Bucharest's defense ministry said that Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey decided on Wednesday, during a NATO summit, to expand the joint task force to include missions to protect critical infrastructure. The three NATO states that share the Black Sea, including Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine, created the de-mining team in 2024 in order to combat the threat of mines floating in the sea after the 2022 invasion by Russia of Ukraine.

Since then, Turkey has handled the majority of the mines that were floating in the Black Sea along important trade routes.

The alliance has agreed to expand its missions, i.e., energy, telecoms, and undersea pipes, at the summit of Ankara. The Black Sea is home to?gas production or exploration projects for all three countries. Romania's offshore?gas Neptun Deep?is expected to be operational in 2027. This will make Romania the largest gas producer in Europe.

In a recent statement, the Romanian Ministry of Defence said that "protecting critical infrastructure along the Black Sea requires an integrated, complex and long-term strategy."

"By executing missions with?regional partner, the Romanian Naval Forces maintain a constant naval presence within their area of responsibility - including in Romania's Exclusive Economic Zone - which serves as both a deterrent and a tool for immediate response. Romania shares a land border of 650 kilometers (400 miles) with Ukraine. Over the past four years, Russian drones have repeatedly violated?its airspace. They've also sunk mines in the Black Sea along key trade and energy routes. In May, two people were injured when a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building in the south-east of Romania. This was the first time that a NATO nation had suffered injuries from a Russian drone during Russia's conflict in Ukraine. (Reporting and editing by Andrei Khalip.)

(source: Reuters)