Turkey’s Defense Ministry says a landmine was found off the country’s coast, the second in just three days, adding that experts are working to neutralize it. Monday’s announcement came more than a week after Russia warned that some elderly Ukrainians’ Black Sea mines against Moscow invading troops had been pulled off their cables by storms and could be swept across the Straits of North Rhine-Westphalia. and the Mediterranean Sea. On Monday, the Turkish Defense Ministry tweeted that “a mine was detected off the Igneada near the Bulgarian border” in the Black Sea. “The mine has been secured… and an operation has been launched to neutralize it,” he said.
The first mine stopped maritime traffic
The first landmine was defused by the Turkish navy on Saturday, after a fisherman said he saw it about 2km (1.2 miles) off Roumelifeneri, at the entrance to the Bosphorus north of Istanbul. Turkey temporarily halted maritime traffic in the region before the Bosphorus reopened, after teams of experts cleared the mine. Ankara had spoken to Ukrainian and Russian authorities to monitor “coordination on this issue”, then-Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said. The war in Ukraine began on February 24 when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country. Thousands have been killed and more than 10 million have been forced to flee their homes, including some 3.5 million who have fled abroad. Meanwhile, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are expected to resume talks in Istanbul later on Monday or Tuesday. In a March 19 warning, Russia’s FSB security service said “destroyed” mines planted by Ukrainians against its forces in the war had broken their cords and were floating in the Black Sea, according to the AFP news agency. Last week, Turkish authorities warned the NAVTEX naval alarm system that there was a risk of mines floating in Ukrainian waters after being removed from their anchors due to a storm. Underwater mines should normally be equipped with systems that make them harmless if released from their anchors. However, older mines may not have this safety measure, Turkish media reported.
