Russia had confirmed last week that hundreds of mines had been washed into the Black Sea after being separated from cables linking them to Ukrainian ports.
The Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, said that the Turkish army has neutralized, today, Saturday, the effect of an old mine that was found in the Bosphorus Strait.
The Turkish Defense Minister stressed that the Turkish naval forces "continue to operate with caution after the discovery of a mine in the Bosphorus Strait."
Earlier in the day, the Turkish Ministry of Defense had announced that it was working to "neutralize" a "mine-like" object at the northern entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, from the side of the Black Sea.
The sighting of a possible sea mine on Saturday came after warnings that mines planted at the entrances to Ukrainian ports could disintegrate in bad weather and cross the Black Sea.
According to the Turkish news agency "Demiroren", fishermen initially noticed the presence of this strange object.
The Turkish NTV station showed pictures of a body swaying in the waves off the Sariyer district of Istanbul, on the European coast of the Bosphorus. A Turkish coast guard ship was stationed nearby.
A Turkish Defense Ministry statement said military divers were sent to handle the object. She explained that the specialized teams secured the surroundings of the suspicious body and began dealing with it to neutralize it.
The Turkish authorities suspended the movement of ships through the Bosphorus Strait temporarily to deal with the body.
A spokesman for the Directorate General of Coastal Safety confirmed a report in Milliyet that authorities had issued a radio notification to the boats that the object was "in the shape of a ball with horn-like protrusions" and that it was "probably a mine".
Turkey shares borders on the Black Sea with Russia and Ukraine. On March 18, Turkey had advised ships to maintain "extreme vigilance" and to report any potential mines that had drifted from Ukrainian ports.
Last year, more than 38,000 ships passed through the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Shortly after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Ankara closed the strait to military ships.
Russia's main intelligence agency said last week that hundreds of mines had been washed into the Black Sea after they were separated from cables linking them to Ukrainian ports. But Ukraine rejected the allegations, saying they were disinformation and an attempt to block off part of the sea.
The Black Sea is a major navigational artery for the trade of grain, oil and its products. The Novorossiysk port authority said in a note seen by "Reuters" that navigation is under threat in the western Black Sea.
"Due to the inclement weather, the cables connecting the mines to the anchors were cut," Russia's Federal Security Agency (FSB), the main agency that replaced the former Soviet KGB, said in a March 19 press release.
The statement added: "Because of winds and water currents, mines drifted in the western sector of the Black Sea." The agency added that about 420 mines escaped and that the mines were planted by Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine, for its part, said the agency's warning was wrong and that it had no information about mines that had escaped into the sea.
"This is completely misleading information from the Russian side," Viktor Vishnov, deputy head of the Ukrainian State Maritime Administration, told Reuters. He added: "They did this to justify closing these areas of the Black Sea under the pretext of what is described as the danger of mines."
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