The scandal on dredging of the Bystroye Canal: Ukraine announces the first discussions with the Romanian authorities

The first “technical consultations” between the Romanian and Ukrainian authorities regarding the dredging works done on the Bystroye channel are to take place on Friday, announced Thursday the ambassador of Ukraine in Bucharest, Ihor Prokopchuk. Regarding Romania’s request to take measurements on the channel to see what happened there, the Ukrainian official said that this request “is in the works”.

“There were a number of steps that were taken by both sides in relation to the activities carried out by Ukraine to maintain the waterway. We established an official communication between the two Foreign Ministries. There were exchanges of information regarding the nature of the works we did.We have received a request to measure the works that Ukraine has carried out, and this request is being processed. (…) In the meantime, it is necessary to have technical consultations at the level of specialists regarding the works that Ukraine has carried out and I am very pleased to tell you that these consultations will take place tomorrow”, said the ambassador, on Thursday, at the Parliament, the ambassador of Ukraine in Bucharest.

Ihor Prokopchuk stated that on the Ukrainian side, the consultations will be led by the Minister of Infrastructure, who will be accompanied by a multidisciplinary team.

A week ago, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Yuriy Vaskov, said that Ukraine has not violated any agreement by deepening the Bystroye Canal on the Danube to increase its food exports from its river ports, and is ready to – show Romania the activity carried out.

The explanations came in the context in which Bucharest asked Kyiv to immediately stop the dredging works on Bâstroe if they are not aimed exclusively at the maintenance of the waterway and requested emergency access to the area to check what works have been done.

The Bystroye scandal broke out on February 15, after the Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, declared that “there are signals that Ukraine is currently dredging the Bystroye canal, which could have an impact on the environment and the Danube Delta”, and “the Ministry of Business The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment must come up with a position and inform”.