Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria team up to clear Black Sea of mines

Bloomberg reported the information, citing anonymous officials involved in the negotiations.

The alliance formed by Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria for joint demining efforts is not a NATO operation. However, this initiative represents the first major joint effort by the allies in the Black Sea region since the outset of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The initiative comes as NATO countries increasingly face Russia's provocative behavior and incidents of debris falling that are deemed accidental.

The new force will be entirely peaceful and will not deploy any additional NATO ships, and the mission is intended to demonstrate the three countries' ability to resolve the problem on their own, the two officials said.

• UK intelligence suggests that Russia intends to mine Ukraine's "humanitarian corridor" and lay sea mines on the approaches to Ukrainian ports.

• Russian attacks on southern ports near Romania's border labeled as war crimes by Romania's Foreign Minister