Turkish Defence Minister Houloussi Akar raised the question of who dropped the sea mines in the Black Sea (everyone thought that the Ukrainians dropped them, especially in the Odessa area) and indirectly accused NATO of being behind the action!

Houloussi Akar, speaking at a meeting last week, said that “there are doubts about whether the mines were found there by accident“, and one theory he advanced is that “it may be a NATO plan to give the Alliance‘s minesweepers a reason to enter the Black Sea and therefore to allow other NATO warships to enter“.

Continuing his thought, Akar said that “This could be done to pressure Ankara to allow NATO ships to enter the Black Sea through the Dardanelles Straits.

Turkey to continue to apply the Montreux Treaty, under which in wartime his country will determine which ships are allowed passage and which are not.

We don‘t know who left the mines there. They are Russian-made, but it is not known which country left them. There are reports that there are about 400 mines in the area. We have spoken to the authorities in Bulgaria and Romania, who are monitoring the situation,” he added.

Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of who planted the mines in different parts of the Black Sea, and some of them have been disconnected from where they were wired and are moving around the sea unchecked. According to the Russian side, there could be risks to navigation even as far as the Mediterranean Sea if some mines were to drift out to sea.