Coast guard

Turkish authorities have rejected Greece's claims that a rubber dinghy full of migrants were escorted by two Turkish boats in the Aegean Sea out of Turkey's territory, by publishing footage debunking the allegations.

Coast Guard units rescued 54 irregular migrants off Balıkesir province in western Turkey.

Coast Guard elements were informed that dozens of migrants were stranded on rubber boats off Altınova neighborhood in Balıkesir and launched a rescue operation.

The Commission is not currently going to respond to Greece's request for financing the activity of the Greek Coast Guard to the tune of 15.8 million euros.

The Turkish Coast Guard Boat Command, which was launched to prevent smuggling activities over Lake Van and to ensure security on the lake, will play an active role in preventing irregular migrants from being taken to other provinces by boat, according to officials on Aug. 21. 

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More than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships have shadowed a British warship sailing near Crimea.

Moscow's defence ministry said that HMS Defender entered Russian territorial waters near Crimea while a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in its path.

Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said no warning shots were fired.

Greece's Coast Guard said Tuesday it had found the three men who went missing when they jumped out of a migrant boat while approaching the island of Lesvos.

The migrants were located on a coastal area on the south of the island during a search and rescue operation that located 24 people and the body of one man.

Authorities were alerted to the missing men by other rescuees.

A video released on Thursday by a news website on the eastern Aegean island of Kalymnos appears to show a Turkish coast guard patrol vessel harassing a Greek fishing boat near Imia, a cluster of uninhabited islets that brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war in 1996.

A Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat that was rammed by a Turkish vessel near the uninhabited islets of Imia in the early hours of Wednesday has only suffered minor damage, authorities said Thursday.

A Greek and a Turkish Coast Guard boat collided near the rocky islets of Imia in the Aegean Sea on Wednesday morning when the Turkish vessel rammed the Greek one which was patrolling the area, according to the Greek Coast Guard on Wednesday.

The Greek newly-built Rafnar type speedboat suffered some damages, according to sources that did not specify their extent.

Visiting the mooring facilities of the Hellenic Coast Guard on the island of Lesvos on New Year's Eve, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his gratitude to the men and women of the Coast Guard, the Hellenic Navy and the Hellenic Police for their efforts in guarding the country's sea borders.