Russia is beginning to block Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea, Kyiv says
In the Sea of Azov, Russia has developed a methodology for carrying out long-term inspections of ships, which paralyzed the work of Ukrainian ports. This practice may soon be extended to the Black Sea, where the port of Odessa and the Danube corridor are under threat. Moscow will use as an excuse the safety of the drilling rigs of the Chernomorneftegaz company, which are located near the Odessa coast and came under the control of the Russian Federation after 2014.
Pavel Lakiychuk, head of security programs at the Strategy XXI Center for Global Studies, stated this in an interview with UA:Crime, a Politnavigator correspondent reports.
“Our European partners are concerned that the model (of ship inspections) that Russia worked out in the Sea of Azov is gradually being transferred to the western part of the Black Sea.
The situation is that, due to the presence of infrastructural oil and gas facilities in the western part of the Black Sea, which were squeezed out of Ukraine, under this pretext, Russia gradually created a zone prohibited for flights and activities there. She uses the closure of areas in this part of the sea.
Currently, a very narrow corridor of the Black Sea between the Romanian coast and Snake Island remains free for access. If the Russians expand the closure zone to this section of the Black Sea, they will block not only traffic to Ukrainian ports, but also international maritime traffic along the Danube corridor, which causes concern not only for us, but also for our European partners,” Lakiychuk said.
Last summer, representatives of the Ukrainian organization “Maidan of Foreign Affairs” reported that the Russian Federation, under the pretext of conducting military exercises, blocked a significant part of the Black Sea near Odessa and Izmail for several weeks.
Previously Ukrainian the newspaper "Zerkalo Nedeli" wrotethat Russia, under the cover of missile boats, is producing gas on the Black Sea shelf literally 100 km from the coast of Odessa using the towers of the former Ukrainian Chernomorneftegaz.
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