On January 30, a meeting of three international river convention commissions was held at the headquarters of the Danube Commission in Budapest – the Danube Commission, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and the International Sava River Basin Commission (ISRBC) with the participation of representatives of the Directorates General of the European Commission for Environment (DG ENV) and Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE).
The participants worked on updating the text of the Joint Statement on Guiding Principles for the Development of Inland Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Danube River Basin.
The Ukrainian delegation informed the participants about serious threats to shipping and the environment both on the Danube and in the Black Sea as a result of the current large-scale military aggression of Russia. Ukraine informed that traces of fuel oil, which leaked from the Russian tankers “Volgoneft-212” and “Volgoneft-239” during the accident, caused serious environmental damage to the Black Sea and even the Danube Delta.
It was noted that these vessels for more than half a century were not even intended for sea navigation and, in violation of all possible requirements and rules, were allowed to operate in winter stormy weather on the Black Sea by the “Russian Classification Society” (formerly the “Russian River Register”).
Also, Ukraine noted that during 2025, Russia will try to continue operating up to 80 “surviving” Volgoneft tankers for the needs of its shadow oil complex, of which at least 15-20 will be actively used by the Russian occupiers in the Azov and Black Seas for maximum risky supplies of oil products, which can create catastrophic problems for maritime safety, environmental threats to the marine environment.
The participants of the event were called upon to immediately strengthen international control over the observance of shipping safety standards and to put pressure on Russia in order to prevent sea pollution in the future, including the use of Russia’s outdated tanker fleet, which is “legalized” by the “Russian Classification Society”.
In addition, Ukraine recommended to suppress the active demands of the aggressor to provocatively and illegally popularize the activities of the “Russian Classification Society” both in the Danube Commission and in the Black Sea Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Black Sea MoU), in the UN Inland Water Transport Committee and in the International Maritime Organization.
Ukraine appealed to the participants with a request to consider the information provided and to take all measures to stop such actions of Russia, in particular in terms of creating threats to shipping and the environment on the Danube by including appropriate response measures in the updated text of the Joint Statement.
The attention of the meeting participants was also drawn to the significant ecological threat of the Danube Delta from regular attacks by Russian drones on civilian targets and port infrastructure in Ukraine, which violate international law and free and safe navigation on the Danube.
In particular, it was informed about the consequences of recent drone attacks on the Ukrainian port infrastructure, which resulted in a large fire and significant damage to the civil infrastructure of the ports and created environmental threats to the Danube.
Ukraine stated that Russian carelessness with tankers and disregard for international rules, in parallel with the intentional detonation of the Kakhovka HPP and constant shelling of the Danube port infrastructure, have already created and continue to create environmental disasters, the negative consequences of which are only increasing.
We would like to remind that in January, our Association sent relevant appeals to the aforementioned structures of the European Commission and the Danube Commission about the causes and development of the current ecological disaster on the shores of occupied Crimea, and we will continue our work to bring the aggressor to justice for the large-scale environmental crimes committed by Russia.

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