Ukraine blocked Russia’s chairmanship of the Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea

Ukraine has blocked the transfer of the chairmanship of the Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution to Russia.

On October 16, the 44th regular meeting of the Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution was held, in which the Ukrainian delegation took part, the Ministry of Environment Protection reported.

The Ukrainian delegation did not allow the transfer of the chairmanship of the Commission from Romania to Russia, which was supposed to take place at the end of the meeting.

“Even the idea of ​​Russia chairing this commission is absurd. The Ukrainian side believes that the aggressor country, which launched a war against Ukraine as a party to the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution, due to whose fault it is impossible to implement the Convention and the Strategic Action Plan regarding the Black Sea, cannot preside over such an international institution as the Black Sea Commission “, said First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Olena Kramarenko.

The Commission is the governing body of the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution, to which Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia are parties, and an international platform for regional cooperation in the conservation and reproduction of Black Sea ecosystems, ensuring the balanced use of marine natural resources and landscapes.

The main directions of the Commission’s work are the protection of the marine environment of the Black Sea from pollution from land-based sources, the preservation of the biotic and landscape diversity of the Black Sea, the fight against pollution of the marine environment by oil and other harmful substances in emergency situations.

Previously, USM reported that tankers of the “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation have become a global problem for the world. Journalists found at least nine cases of Russian “shadow fleet” vessels leaving oil spills in global waters — from Thailand to Vietnam, Italy and Mexico — starting in 2021