The Ambassador of Ukraine in Bucharest, Ihor Prokopchuk, was invited, at the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, on Monday, to the headquarters of the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE), for a discussion with the Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs, Iulian Fota, a context in which the Romanian side reiterated the request for the „immediate stoppage of all dredging works if they do not have the sole purpose of maintaining the waterway”, according to Agerpres.

During the discussion, the Romanian side requested the Ukrainian side to clarify as soon as possible the difference in Ukraine’s position between the press statements issued on Saturday, according to which the Ukrainian side only carries out maintenance work on the navigable Danube canal, and respectively the information published on February 17 by the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, in which it is shown that on the Bystroye Canal the navigation depths reached 6.5 meters (from 3.9 meters as it would have been at the beginning of the war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine), shows a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to AGERPRES.

The Romanian side highlighted during the discussion the fact that „there is no agreement regarding the development of such activities, under the conditions in which the procedures for assessing the environmental impact of the navigation projects of the Ukrainian side are underway”.

The MAE recalled that, in the written approach made on February 16, through diplomatic channels, to the Ukrainian side, it requested that, in the event that dredging works are carried out (which exceed the character of maintenance or maintenance works), they cease. Thus, the MAE put into view the need for the Ukrainian side to refrain from any action aimed at deepening the navigation waterway in the absence of a dialogue with Romania and the express consent of Romania for this purpose.

At the same time, during the meeting, the Romanian side requested, as an emergency, the agreement of the Ukrainian side for the access of the Romanian hydrographic vessels of the Lower Danube River Administration to the Ukrainian waters of the Chilia branch in order to carry out bathymetry, sedimentation and flow measurements on the entire bed of the Chilia branch, which forms the border between Romania and Ukraine, in order to identify the morphological changes that have occurred on the Chilia branch since 2005.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed during the meeting that such an agreement by the Ukrainian side „will contribute to the clarification of the previously mentioned aspects, as well as to the full assurance of trust between the two parties – as partners and close neighboring states that share the same values”.

The Ministry reiterates, in this context, the fact that „on-the-ground verification of specific technical information is not within the competence of the MAE, which has no territorial structures and no specialization in the matter”.

The Romanian Ministry considers that „it is absolutely necessary that these issues be clarified as quickly and safely as possible by the competent Romanian authorities”.

The Ambassador of Ukraine pointed out that the Ukrainian side „does not carry out dredging activities aimed at deepening the waterway, but only operational activities aimed at ensuring navigability up to the port of Izmail, its navigation parameters being included in the public communication of the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine”.

The Ukrainian side also indicated that the need to ensure navigability on the Chilia arm and the capacity of the river ports of this state (in particular the port of Izmail) arose in the context of the blockade imposed by Russia on the port of Odessa.

The Ukrainian side expressed full openness to the resumption of the dialogue at the technical level, in order to clarify all the elements of interest and to establish cooperation within this project, taking into account the interests of both parties, including those derived from the need to protect the environment of the Danube Delta, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For this purpose, the Ukrainian side proposed the organization in the next period of a technical meeting between the ministries in charge in the field of transport from the two states.

The MAE brings to mind that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had a discussion with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, on Saturday, February 18, on the sidelines of the Security Conference in Munich, through which he requested clarification of the position of the Ukrainian side as soon as possible.

Agerpres