Russia joins Black Sea HarmonyRussia yesterday officially joined Turkey's Black Sea Harmony initiative to address the new security challenges in the region.
The move constitutes another step by Ankara and Moscow to address security deficits in the Black Sea through strengthening cooperation among the littoral states.
Both NATO member Turkey and Russia have been reluctant so far about U.S. demands to expand a NATO-led Mediterranean counterterrorism effort into the Black Sea. Ankara and Moscow's common understanding that security in the Black Sea is primarily the responsibility of the littoral states underscores the two countries' growing wariness of U.S. strategic designs in the wider Black Sea region.
The official agreement for Russia's participation in Black Sea Harmony was signed in Ankara yesterday between Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ambassador Rafet Akgunay and acting Deputy Chief of Mission of the Russian Embassy Elbrus Kargiyev.
Turkey launched Black Sea Harmony in 2004 to patrol the southern segment of the Black Sea. Recently, Ankara extended an invitation to other littoral countries to join its security initiative. The Black Sea Naval Task Force, or BlackSeaFor, was set up in 2001. The group comprises all six riparian states in Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine.
Ukraine has also announced that it is considering joining Black Sea Harmony.
The Turkish-led security initiative aims at closer cooperation between the parties in activities aim at preventing illicit trafficking of humans, heroin from Afghanistan, and weapons from small arms to weapons of mass destruction.
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