The Black Sea mines

[EndlessWire]

The Russians took over the Azov Sea. Now, they are more active in the Black Sea, with aggression against Odesa. There are reports of mines broken away from moorings and floating up against the shores of Turkey. My, that's a long way away from the Odesa harbor. What is going on...

I found a link to an interesting video report:

It is old, from March 3, 2022, but the graphics are informational and explanations are given. Who is Sal Mercogliano? I dunno--" former merchant mariner and maritime historian at Campbell University." In particular, he has a discussion of the yachts available for seizure. Interesting!

It seems like perhaps Ukraine did put those harbor mines in there, and now they are broken free by whatever means. The Black Sea shipping is threatened, and you can see a gradual clearing out of shipping from all areas. This video does its best to explain the enormous consequences of the disruption of even 15% of world-wide shipping, especially the Black Sea shipping. Because the world will now face food insecurity because of this unfounded, aggressive territory expansion by Russia, it would behoove us to understand all the nuances of what it means to the entire world.

This video makes a point of showing how Russia attacked NATO shipping, and no one really cared...

[mopinko]

1. this one i do not understand.

send in the fleet.

[Karadeniz]

2. Surely the Russian ships could be attacked from someplace in Ukraine control!!!

[Crunchy Frog]

3. Yes. Ukraine just needs to be given the weapons.

[Hortensis]

4. Nations bordering the Black Sea patrol for them and are being asked

by shippers to up their game. NATO has Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Groups that the U.S. participates in, with one in that area, but I didn't find any new news for them. The Maritime Times calls out Russia's claims against Ukraine as typical Russian "unlawfare," described as:

Beyond the obvious efforts at controlling the narrative, this latest statement indicates that, even while waging a brutal kinetic war, Russia is continuing its longstanding campaign of what has been termed “lawfare” – using law or legal processes to accomplish what would otherwise be military ends. In Russia’s case, however, this sort of legal bullying on the grounds of baseless legal claims and “fake law” is perhaps better termed “unlawfare.” Only by highlighting absurd legal postures by Russia and applying sound legal analysis can this nefarious tactic be effectively countered. Russia cannot be allowed to use spurious legal justifications to undermine and degrade the rule of law.

Reuters: NATO's Shipping Centre said in an updated advisory on April 4 that there were ongoing searches by national authorities for "mine-like objects" and that "the threat of additional drifting mines cannot be ruled out."

Last month, the insurance industry's Joint War Committee widened the high-risk area of waters around the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to include areas close to Romania and Georgia, which has contributed to underwriters raising premiums.

"If it transpires that there are significant numbers of live mines that exceed littoral state abilities to contain them, then JWC will move to reassess the listed areas," the Committee said in a separate note on March 31.