Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania may start demining Black Sea in summer

Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar reported the information.

According to him, in order for the three NATO countries to start demining the Black Sea, they must enact the memorandum signed between them. Romania has already done so, Bulgaria is following domestic procedures, and in Turkey, the parliament must ratify the memorandum, which will take a month or two to complete.

"It is most likely that the ships will go to sea sometime in the summer months, and the area of coverage is international waters. Relatively speaking, if we draw a line from Odesa to the Bosphorus, it will be to the west of this line. That is, we can assume that from the former grain corridor line to the west to the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey," the diplomat explained.

He noted that Ukraine wants to join the memorandum, but the participation of Ukrainian ships will be possible only after the war is over, so that they are not targeted by Russia.

"At the same time, information exchange and other cooperation is possible in a different time frame. We will discuss this directly during the meetings," the ambassador concluded.

• After months of negotiations, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania signed an agreement on a joint plan to clear the Black Sea of mines on January 11.