MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Kiev's deliberate mining of the Black Sea poses a threat to other countries in the region as mines can drift long distances, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on the sidelines of the 12th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.
"There are serious concerns for the safety of navigation in the Black Sea because of the Kiev regime's activities - deliberately mining its coastal waters," the diplomat stressed.
"At the very beginning of the special military operation, Ukraine was already mining its Black Sea ports, if you remember. Then, due to storms, many mines were torn from their anchors and drifted. The mines, apparently, are not yet fully equipped with artificial intelligence. If they were, they would have understood themselves that they should drift towards Russia. But they ended up off the coast of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. There is no guarantee that the same thing will not happen again," she said.
The diplomat also drew attention to contradictions in the actions of the Kiev regime representatives, who, with the ongoing mining of the coastal waters, "invite the world community to do business, supply food, and engage in economic operations in the Black Sea."
Drifting mines in the Black Sea have repeatedly reached the ports of coastal countries and come close to the mouth of the Bosporus Strait.