Amid Russia-Ukraine war, free-floating naval mines threaten the Mediterranean

It has been 33 days since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he said was a “special military operation to denazify” Ukraine. The war that followed, has now left thousands dead, cities pulverized and turned the ex-soviet state into a macabre trap. The gruesome conflict has not only affected Ukraine, which was once the world’s third-largest nuclear power, but also neighbouring countries. More recently, its repercussions were felt in the Bosphorus strait, which links Red to the Mediterranean Sea.

What happened in the Bosphorous Strait?

On Saturday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said that divers had “neutralized” an old “naval bomb” that was located at the northern entrance of the Bosphorus Strait. The bomb was initially spotted by fishermen near a docking area who then reported it to the coast guard. The incident prompted the authorities to close the strait for 5 hours and divert the transit traffic toward the Red Sea.

Interestingly, the 19-mile-long Bosphorus Strait makes way for more than 48,000 ships annually, making it three times denser than Suez Canal. Apart from paving way for giant freight ships, it also plays a critical role in facilitating local fishing and ferrying passenger boats across two sides of Istanbul. While Saturday’s temporary halt didn’t have many repercussions, a longer closure of the maritime trade route could cost damages worth billions.

Interestingly, Russia’s main intelligence agency had, on March 21, warned that several hundred maritime mines had got dislodged from cables near Ukrainian coasts and drifted into the Black Sea. “After the start of the Russian special military operation, Ukrainian naval forces had deployed barriers of mines around the ports of Odesa, Ochakov, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny,” the FSB Security Service had warned. The cables were cut due to storms, and some of them were floating freely in the western Black Sea, pushed along by wind and the currents, it had added. However, Kyiv dismissed the warning stating it was another Maskirovka (fake story).

Can it threaten the Mediterranean?

While, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his government was vigilant and had taken necessary steps, the threat of undiffused mines crossing the Bosphorus lingers. On the west of the Bosphorus lies the Mediterranean- consisting of European countries like Greece, Italy and France; African countries including Egypt, Algeria and Morocco and the Jewish state of Israel. Arab states, including Lebanon and Syria, which are already shadowed by decades of war, also lie on the Mediterranean coast. Turkey, which holds control over the Bosphorus is under maximum threat. Experts and observers have opined that even a single explosion could lead to heavy destruction.

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Notably, a total of 420 mines were deployed off the coast of Odesa by Ukrainian authorities to deter Russian troops. It is now known how many of them are currently floating free in the Black Sea or if any of them had entered the Mediterranean, but experts have said the mines-each containing 20 kgs of TNT- pose a serious threat to ships, cargoes and towns located at coasts. Bosphorus is currently closed for frigates and warships in the wake of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.  

Image: AP