Romania’s Regina Maria frigate will arrive on Friday, June 21, in the military port of Constanta, after a mission of over 40 days in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the naval group of the EUNAVFOR MED IRINI Operation, the General Staff of the Romanian Navy (SMFN) informed on Wednesday.

According to SMFN, Romania participated for the third time in the EUNAVFOR MED IRINI Operation carried out under the aegis of the European Union, contributing to ensuring compliance with the UN arms embargo imposed on Libya.

„The Regina Maria frigate carried out marine traffic monitoring missions and inspections on board commercial ships transiting through the Mediterranean basin, with the aim of improving security in the Mediterranean Sea and to support the joint effort to end the conflict in Libya, in order to meet Romania’s commitments towards the European Union.”

During its more than 40 days in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the Regina Maria sailed over 6,200 nautical miles (approximately 11,500 kilometers) and made stopovers to train the crew and restore the combat capability in the ports of Souda on the island of Crete, Taranto in Italy and Catania on the island of Sicily.

The frigate has a crew of 240 soldiers on board, under the command of Mitel-Laurentiu Alexandru.

The EUNAVFOR MED IRINI operation, successor to EUNAVFOR MED SOPHIA, is a crisis management operation initiated after the decisions of the Berlin Conference in 2022, in order to achieve the conditions for the permanent cessation of the conflict in Libya.

AGERPRES