Articles

Bohdan Yaremenko, Chairman of the Maidan of Foreign Affairs, on the Turkish President’s official visit to Ukraine. We hear that next week Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, will visit Ukraine. The event is worth to be thoroughly analyzed. But before, there is one small but significant caveat. In a month, on April 24, the world or at least a big and very important for Ukraine part of it, will honor the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire that took place 100 years ago.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Maidan of Foreign Affairs (Kyiv), BSNews. Turkey is negotiating the resumption of the Zonguldak-Yevpatoriya ferry line with the authorities of the occupied Crimea. A trial ferry trip and statements on it by the Yevpatoriya seaport officials once again confirm the fact that Turkey is no longer a friend to Ukraine or Crimean Tatars. How will the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry respond to this?

Andriy KLYMENKO, «Maidan of Foreign Affairs», BSNews, Kyiv-Yalta. The turbulent past 10 months have distracted BSNews from cruise monitoring which has still been among the most important ones for us and our subscribers for years. Based on our monitoring for September 2014 we are returning to this analysis under the new conditions, with Crimea annexed by Russia. September is the most telling month for Black Sea cruises.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Maidan of Foreign Affairs (Kyiv), BSNews Chief Editor. Uss Ross (DDG 71), the US Navy missile destroyer arrived at Constanta, Romania on September 5, 2014 in the course of patrolling the Black Sea. The vessel is heading to Odesa area on September 7, 2014 to participate in the Sea Breeze 2014 Ukrainian-US naval training.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Olha KORBUT, Maidan of Foreign Affairs, BSNews, Yalta-Kyiv. Maidan of Foreign Affairs and BSNews monitoring group publishes the blacklist of vessels (3rd edition) that entered Crimean seaports after Crimea was occupied and annexed by Russia. The list currently includes 91 vessels, with 38 Russian, 24 Turkish and 14 Greek vessels.

Andriy KLYMENKO, Head of Supervisory Board, Maidan of FA, BSNews Chief Editor, Yalta-Kyiv. It’s amazing: just three months ago, when the Kremlin signed a shocking act of annexation, for us in Crimea it seemed like it would remain that way for many, many years. Today, despite the increasingly brutal and unpredictable aggression of the Russian Federation in Donbas, it appears that it will happen much faster. Time is accelerated here now. A day is a month. And sometimes even more.

From BSNews editorial staff: On February 20, 2013 the People's Deputy of Ukraine from one of the Crimean districts Olena Netetska headed the delegation of our country to the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly, and at the 41st General Assembly of the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly in Sophia on July 9 – 11, 2013 she was elected as the Deputy Chairman of the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly. BSNews has asked Ms. Netetska to share her thoughts and plans in the article for our edition.

Informall Business Group, specially for BSNews. In first half of 2013 Black Sea container terminals of Romania, Ukraine, Georgia and Bulgaria handled 1 275 356 TEU, including empties, but transshipment is not included. In this review all data is related to laden containers and general amount was 876 194 TEU. In result general growth in the region for laden containers for the first half of 2013 was 7,33%, comparing to the same period of 2012.

Andrei KLIMENKO, BlackSeaNews We have decided to offer our readers the August 2013 cruise program. In this case, a lot of words are of no need – everything is quite clear at once:). As always, we will be glad if our well-informed readers submit any additional information and updates to this very schedule in their comments

Andrei KLIMENKO, Vladimir TROFIMOV (photos), BSNews. Spanish and Turkish frigates, taking part in NATO and Bulgarian Navy exercises Breeze 2013, conducted in Varna on July 6-15, 2013 at the same time with Odessa Sea Breeze, arrived to Odessa on Saturday, July 20, 2013, between 15.00 and 16.00. Both vessels are the basis of the 2nd NATO permanent navy Mediterranean group (SNMG-2)

Vladimir YEVSEYEV, director of the Center for Public Policy Research, Moscow, specially for BSNews. However, in mid-May, the Mediterranean force saw its status upgraded to being directly subordinate to the General Staff of the Russian Navy. On June 1, the formation, consisting of 16 warships, plus auxiliary vessels and three helicopters, commenced military duty under the command of the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleev.

Informall Business Group, specially for BSNews. Last years container market of Georgia had the most rapid growth among other countries of the Black Sea and still has a space for further growth. Existing volumes of Georgian container market have significantly increased during last 5 years. In 2007 Georgian container market was only 8,8% of the Black Sea market but according to Informall forecasts in 2013 it shall be already 14,6%. Volumes increased from almost 200k TEU in 2008 to 357k TEU in 2012.

Tatiana GUCHAKOVA, Mihail ROZENSHTEJN (photo), BSNews. The Meeting of the Ministers in charge of Economy of the BSEC Member States was held in Yalta, Ukraine, on 23 May 2013, under the Chairmanship-in-Office of Ukraine. The representatives of the Member States discussed and adopted a joint declaration. In the said document titled the “Joint Declaration of the Ministers Participating in the Meeting of the Ministers in charge of Economy of the BSEC Member States,” the Ministers declared their willingness to join efforts for the optimization of the economic, social, infrastructural, natural, scientific and technical potential for the creation of favorable conditions for integration in the Black Sea region.

Eugene KOGAN, The Center for International and European Studies (CIES), Istanbul. The two unresolved conflicts in the South Caucasus hang over Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia like the Sword of Damocles. As seen from every view point, Russia’s influence, levers and policy toward conflicts resolution remain the key issues. As long as Moscow maintains a status quo policy and keeps the outside actors at arm’s length from the region, the unresolved conflicts will continue to fester.