Romanian army divers destroyed two "Gerbera" drones hovering over the water in Romania's exclusive economic zone near the large offshore natural gas project in the Black Sea "Neptune Deep", Romanian National Defense Minister Radu Miruca said today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
The agency notes that Romania shares a 614-kilometer land border with Ukraine and has repeatedly registered violations of its airspace by Russian drones over the past four years, as well as sea mines floating near key trade and energy routes in the Black Sea.
Past month Romanian F-16 fighter jets shot down three Russian drones that violated Romanian airspace for three consecutive days.
The drones destroyed today were spotted by a civilian ship operating near the offshore natural gas production project "Neptune Deep", Miruca said.
The minister did not specify the type of drones, but added that Ukraine had confirmed that they did not belong to the Ukrainian armed forces.
"For the safety of the sea route and the work carried out around the platform, a decision was made to destroy them by controlled explosion," Miruca said.
"The Ministry of Defense contacted our Ukrainian partners, who confirmed that the drones did not belong to them," he added he.
NATO members Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, which have access to the Black Sea, have destroyed more than 150 sea mines floating in the water near key shipping lanes.
Last month, the three countries agreed to expand the joint battle group that clears mines floating freely in the Black Sea to include missions to protect critical infrastructure. All three countries have projects to explore for or extract natural gas in the Black Sea.
The Romanian project "Neptune Deep" is a joint venture between "OMV Petrom" and the Romanian state gas company "Romgaz". It is expected that when it is put into operation next year, Romania will become the largest gas producer in the European Union, Reuters notes.