site.btaUPDATED No Naval Mines Observed along Black Sea Coast - Border Police Chief

There is currently no danger in the Black Sea coastal waters, as Bulgarian patrol ships are monitoring them. No drifting mines have been observed, said Border Police Director Deyan Mollov during a hearing in Parliament in connection with information being circulated about drifting naval mines from Ukraine along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

"The sea is calm, we are periodically patrolling with our special aerial reconnaissance team and there is currently no threat for naval vessels," Mollov said.

On March 18, the border police naval base in Sozopol (on the Black Sea) received in formation from the Bulgarian Navy that Russian maritime navigation safety authorities have reported that there is a risk of mines drifting away from Ukrainian ports, supposedly due to the poor weather conditions. There is no way we could know how credible the information [about the mines] we received is. This a subject of investigation by other services," Mollov told the Parliamentary Tourism Committee. 

He assured that the Border Police has taken all necessary information, organizational and control measures concerning Bulgaria's territorial waters. 

He recalled that the Black Sea border coordination centre is based in Burgas. "We receive all the information from it and if there's any risk, we will be informed. We know the location of each and every vessel at any point in time," Mollov told an MP's question.

Answering another question, he said that there are very strict procedures to be followed in case a threat emerges, recalling that the Defence Ministry is responsible for explosive devices.