“Extracting gas from the Black Sea could be a problem.” A former head of Romanian diplomacy draws attention to the implications related to the future of the Crimean Peninsula
Neptun Deep project, Photo: OMV Petrom
The former foreign minister and presidential adviser Cristian Diaconescu warned, on Saturday, in a show on Digi24, that “a de facto recognition” of the Crimean Peninsula belonging to Russia could call into question “the entire procedure for delimiting maritime spaces in the Black Sea”, reports News.ro.
“If there was, let's say, a de facto recognition – it's not really understood what it means to recognize e facto and not de jure – of Crimea's belonging to the Russian Federation, practically the entire procedure for delimiting maritime spaces in the Black Sea could also be called into question. Extracting gas from the Black Sea could be a problem,” said Cristian Diaconescu, in the “In front of you” show.
He explained that it is not known what Russia's perspective will be regarding Romanian economic operations in the Black Sea.
“In 2027, we hope, the Neptun Deep platforms and the continental platforms will start exploitation. If the hydrocarbons will be able to be used by us, together with the Norwegians, I think we will cover most of the European needs (…). In the conditions where theoretically, without any other nuance, we are discussing a type of peace in the Black Sea, so the Russian fleet will return to Sevastopol, no one will be able to attack them, so, no, there is a certain type of agreement each other, and they will be able to do what they want”, added the former foreign minister.
USA, proposal to recognize Russian control over occupied Ukrainian territories
The British newspaper The Telegraph wrote on Friday that Trump's emissaries, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, will go to Moscow with a proposed peace agreement in which Washington would recognize Russia's control over occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.
The plan to recognize the territory, which violates US diplomatic convention, could go ahead despite concerns from Ukraine's European allies, who have warned of the dramatic effect the decision would have.
Russia's president said on Thursday that Washington's legal recognition of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as Russian territory will be one of the key issues in negotiations on his US counterpart's peace plan.
