Black Sea

Turkish and Russian top diplomats, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Sergey Lavrov will discuss the modalities of a secure corridor to be established through the Black Sea for the shipment of nearly 20 million tons of grain to world markets to avoid a major global food crisis.

Russia is preparing new provocations in the Black Sea, and among the potential targets of provocations are Bulgaria and Romania, the Association for the Reintegration of Crimea, a non-governmental platform that analyzes and seeks solutions to problems after the Russian occupation of Crimea, said in its official Facebook profile.

"If the import of Russian oil to Bulgaria stops, the only oil refinery in Bulgaria, Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, will stop working." This was said by the Chairman of the Management Board of the company Ilshat Sharafutdinov. According to him, it is possible to seek oil imports from other countries, but this will take time.

The third countries, particularly the NATO allies, should better not demand to send their warships to the Black Sea during the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Turkish defense minister has said, warning them not to turn the Black Sea into an area of competition.

The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet - the missile cruiser "Moskva" (Moscow) has sunk, said the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The military said the cruiser sank while being towed to a port in the Black Sea. The ship lost stability due to damage to the hull caused by an explosion of ammunition and a fire on board on the night of 13 to 14 April.

Russia's Black Sea flagship sank on April 14 after an explosion and fire that Ukraine claimed was a successful missile strike, as the Kremlin accused Kyiv of targeting its citizens in sorties across the border.

It was also announced that its crew was evacuated after the explosion, which Ukraine claims was the result of a missile strike.
Russia's Ministry of Defense announced that the fire on the Moscow missile warship caused an explosion of ammunition, TASS reported.

The Turkish army is continuing to stay vigilant against the naval mines in the Black Sea, the defense minister has said, stressing that marine traffic through the Bosporus is not affected by the drifting sea mines and runs as usual.

Turkey said on Feb. 28 it was blocking warships from the key Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits in line with a convention that gives it control over the passage of military vessels in the strategic area.

"It is not a couple of air strikes now, the situation in Ukraine is officially a war … We will implement the Montreux Convention," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday, having finally recognised Russia's military "actions" in Ukraine as a war.