At the 40th meeting of the Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea, the Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Oleksandr Krasnolutsky, said that armed aggression of the Russian Federation could cause the destruction of its ecosystems.
The meeting began with the question of the suspension of Russia's membership in the Bucharest Convention due to a full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine, the Ministry of Environment reports on Facebook.
The Commission is the governing body of the Bucharest Convention.
"By its actions, Russia violates the Bucharest Convention, by signing which it undertook to protect the biodiversity of the Black Sea and protect its marine environment from pollution by harmful substances. Instead, the aggressor continues his illegal activities in the Black Sea. What are the Black Sea ecosystems dying from? Russia's actions threaten an ecological catastrophe not only for Ukraine, but also for all Black Sea countries. Therefore, such a country has no place in the Convention, the principles of which it despises and unconscionably violates," Krasnolutskyi said.
It was noted that the meeting of the Commission began with the agreement of the agenda, to which, on the initiative of Ukraine, an item on the consequences of the military aggression of the Russian Federation for the environment of the Black Sea was included. Such a proposal came in the context of the appeals of the head of the Ministry of Environment, Ruslan Strilets.
However, Russian representatives blocked the work of the governing body of the Bucharest Convention. And the members of the Commission never approved the agenda, which is why the meeting ended without consideration of key issues.
"Despite this, the Ukrainian side will continue negotiations with the member countries of the Convention, so that Russia is deprived of a voice in the Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea," the message said.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in the Odesa region, the prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings on the fact of ecocide, namely, the mass death of dolphins that has been going on for half a year in the Black Sea due to the military aggression of the Russians.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources for European Integration Svitlana Grynchuk said that due to Russian aggression, pollution is increasing, which will negatively affect the environment of the entire European continent.
