Urgent Action by Ukraine and Romania Required: Moldova to Fall Victim of the Crimean-Style Annexation Scenario

The Urgent Warning of the Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies and BlackSeaNews

The February 2014 "special Crimean operation" may be soon repeated in Moldova via the port of Giurgiulesti. An immediate preventive action from Ukraine and Romania is necessary.

Andrii Klymenko, Head of the Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies and editor-in-chief of the BlackSeaNews, appeals on his Facebook page for the widest repost of the alert, reminding the audience that in 2014, 

the first group of Russian special forces to take part in the occupation of Crimea, actually arrived on February 26, the day before the operation began, at the Sevastopol seaport in Komysheva Bay, on an ordinary old Volga-Balt-type cargo ship.

Klymenko warns that while Ukrainian Moldova experts believe that Russia won't be able to do anything to prevent the country's upcoming referendum on joining the EU because the two states have no common border, the reality is that Moldova has the Danube port of Giurgiulesti that, as the BSIS predicted earlier, now receives DIRECT ships from Novorossiysk and Tuapse.

Between July-September, the Monitoring Group recorded at least five direct voyages to Giurgiulesti from Russian ports, with four of the vessels owned by Turkish shipowners and one - by an offshore entity. Naturally, the ultimate owner can be anyone.

To those who pin hopes on the Romanian and Ukrainian border control on the Danube, we'd like to emphasize that in peacetime, international maritime law adheres to the principles of freedom of transit, and thus, has no clause that would instruct the border services to inspect such vessels during any particular times.

In view of that, the situation must be rectified IMMEDIATELY.

On October 20, 2024, Moldova is scheduled to hold a national referendum on whether the country should amend the Constitution to prevent any future government from changing the national course towards the EU membership.

Naturally, Russia will do EVERYTHING to prevent that and is doing so already, which is widely reported by the Moldovan news. 

So, for the time being, the authorities need to immediately introduce a special regime for all ships on the Danube, both in the Ukrainian and Romanian ports, and instruct border guards to conduct mandatory inspections of the premises and cargo of all vessels sailing from Russian ports to Giurgiulesti.

Direct Sea Voyages from Russian Black Sea Ports to the Port of Giurgiulesti, Moldova, Between July-September 2024

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This article has been prepared with the support of the European Union in Ukraine. The content of the article is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the position of the EU