According to some government sources, measurements on the Bastro Canal, which are required by the Romanian authorities to clarify the dredging problem, are likely to begin on Thursday and will be carried out by a single Ukrainian vessel.

The same sources report that the measurements, which have been carried out since March 17 on the section of the Chilia branch between kilometers 11 and 22, have already been completed. Inspections were carried out by three ships of the Galatsia River Administration “Lower Danube”, on board of which there were both Romanian and Ukrainian experts.

In the Bastro channel, the measurements will most likely start on Thursday and will be carried out by only one Ukrainian ship, on board of which there will be Romanian specialists. Since there is only one ship, the inspections will take longer than on the Brașul Chilia – about ten days, the aforementioned government sources said.

It will be recalled that the Romanian and Ukrainian authorities agreed that the Romanian experts would start measurements on March 15 on the Chili branch and the Bastroe channel, but the inspections began on March 17 only in Chili, in the absence of written consent. Ukrainians

On Tuesday, Ukraine gave written consent to the start of measurements on the Bastro channel.

• “After weeks of controversy, it’s time to shed some light on this bipartisan issue!
• The Ukrainian side offered Romania to conduct its own measurements, for which we appoint a Romanian expert!
• We now have an agreement on the measurements that will be carried out by our crews on the Kili branch (Ukrainian side) between km 22 and km 116.
• The Romanian side requested access for measurements in the sector of the Kilia branch between km 11 and 22, as well as in the Bastro channel.
• Considering the fact that even representatives of the European Commission supported Romania’s requests, I insist that it is in the interests of both states to clarify the situation regarding the dredging carried out by Ukraine on the entire Kili branch and on the Bastro channel,” the minister said. Transport Sorin Grindeanu reacted on Facebook.

Secretary of State at the Ministry of Transport Ionel Skriostianu said the reasons for issuing the partial agreement were “security-related and originated from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine”, given that there have been several mine incidents at Bastroe that have affected civilian ships.

Ukraine has suggested that it will stop any form of dredging in Chile and Bastro until the situation is clarified.

On March 7, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Yonel Skriostianu announced after a meeting regarding the Bastro Canal that the Ukrainian side had undertaken to stop any dredging work until the situation was clarified.

• “The good news is that Ukraine has assumed that it will stop any form of dredging in Chili and Bastro, and we have determined together with the delegation of the European Commission that from now on the main activity will be focused on the consolidation of the Sulin Canal, investments in the Sulin Canal, in order to increase the transit capacity to receive all vessels that are on the maritime Danube cluster. (…) Ukraine assumed that it would stop any form of dredging, be it operational, maintenance or any other form,” Ionel Skriostianu said at the time.

How the scandal surrounding the dredging of the Bastro canal began

Ukraine has not violated any agreement by deepening the Bastro Canal from the Danube to increase food exports from its river ports, and is ready to demonstrate the activity to Romania, said Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Vaskov. quoted by Reuters.

The clarifications came in the context of Bucharest asking Kyiv to immediately stop dredging work on Bastro, unless it is aimed exclusively at maintaining the waterway, and requesting emergency access to the area to check what work has been done.

The scandal erupted on February 15 after Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said that “there are signals that Ukraine is currently dredging the Bastro Canal, which may have an impact on the environment and the Danube Delta,” and “the Ministry of Business, Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Natural Resources should act with the position and inform”:

• “There are some international agreements that we must respect. We provoked this meeting at the Ministry of Transport, although it is not necessarily a matter of MTS.
• This is more a matter that belongs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Environment, because we are talking about international treaties that everyone must respect, and because we are talking about the possible impact of such dredging operations at Bastroe on the environment and the Danube Delta.”

The following day (February 16), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it would convey to the European Commission that Romania opposes Ukraine’s intention – which is not new – to carry out dredging work on the Bastro Canal, clarifying that it was not any institution in Romania that reported the deepening of the canal Bastro, which will now be made by Ukrainians. The MAE recalled the position of Romania, which does not agree with the proposal to include the Danube branches of Chile and Bastro in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).

Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke also reacted to this scandal, saying that the ambassador of Ukraine in Bucharest was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get Ukraine’s consent for the Romanian authorities to go there to check.

President Klaus Iohannis also spoke out, saying that “concern for the preservation of the biodiversity of the Danube Delta should not be confused with the various current political approaches”.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to attack Ukrainians based on unspecified data at the moment. They don’t need to be scolded,” Yohannis said.

He accused that “our politicians are chasing publicity, on the eve of the elections”, “commenting without knowing what exactly is happening”, and this conflict will benefit Moscow.

Two days after Yohannis’ intervention, Prime Minister Chuke said “there is evidence and information that the dredging was more than agreed” but “it is unnatural for such a topic to be discussed and speculated politically”.

• Read also: Out of politics in the Bistro-Delta Danube scandal: HotNews.ro took the blame of the Romanians and asked for an explanation from the Ukrainian ministry that did the work