Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey establish Mine Countermeasures Naval Group to tackle increased mine threat in the Black Sea

Tomorrow, January 11, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a Mine Countermeasures Naval Group, to tackle increased mine threat in the Black Sea.

Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov leaves today for a visit to Turkey, where he will sign the document tomorrow in Istanbul, the Defence Ministry said on January 10.

The decision to approve the Memorandum on the Bulgarian side was taken at a government meeting on 13 December last year.

The establishment of the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Naval Group was initiated by Turkey in August 2023 with the main task of ensuring the safety of the shipping lanes in the Black Sea in terms of mine countermeasures and countering the mine threat that arose after the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The naval group is expected to help improve interaction and good-neighbourly relations between the participants, without replacing NATO's presence and ongoing deterrence and defence activities in the Black Sea area.