ATHENS/ANKARA: Greece complained to Turkey on Tuesday that a Turkish vessel had collided with a Greek coast guard boat off disputed islets in the Aegean Sea, but Turkey denied the Turkish ship was at fault.
The Greek coast guard said in a statement that the incident took place off Imia, known as Kardak in Turkish, at about midnight on Monday.
A Turkish patrol vessel “made some risky maneuvers” striking the left side of the Greek coast guard vessel patrolling the area, and damaging it. There were no injuries, the coast guard said.
Turkey and Greece, NATO allies, have been at odds over a host of issues from ethnically split Cyprus to sovereignty over airspace and overflights.
They came to the brink of war in 1996 in a sovereignty dispute over the islets, but tensions have eased since.
“Dangerous incidents, such as this one, which put human lives in danger, are the result of the escalating and provocative behavior shown increasingly by Turkey in recent days,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Turkey must end the violations of international law and acts that do not contribute in the development of the two countries’ relations.”
Turkey’s ambassador to Athens was also called at the foreign ministry, it said in the statement.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry denied the Turkish vessel was at fault. It said the Greek statement misled Greece’s own public and that it distorted the truth “as always.”
It said Ankara had in fact contacted Athens regarding the “dangerous maneuvers” by the Greek coast guard, and informed them that Turkey “would not tolerate continuing hostile behavior by the Greek armed forces.”
Tensions between the two countries have been on the rise since a Greek court blocked the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers Ankara accuses of involvement in a failed coup against President Tayyip Erdogan in 2016.
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Greece protests to Turkey over boat incident, Ankara denies fault
Greece protests to Turkey over boat incident, Ankara denies fault
Inside Chernobyl, Ukraine scrambles to repair radiation shield
CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: Inside an abandoned control room at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a worker in an orange hardhat gazed at a grey wall of seemingly endless dials, screens and gauges that were supposed to prevent disaster.
The 1986 meltdown at the site was the world’s worst ever nuclear incident. Since Russia invaded in 2022, Kyiv fears another disaster could be just a matter of time.
In February, a Russian drone hit and left a large hole in the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the outer of two radiation shells covering the remnants of the nuclear power plant.
It functions as a modern high-tech replacement for an inner steel-and-concrete structure — known as the Sarcophagus, a defensive layer built hastily after the 1986 incident.
Ten months later, repair work is still ongoing, and it could take another three to four years before the outer dome regains its primary safety functions, plant director Sergiy Tarakanov told AFP in an interview from Kyiv.
“It does not perform the function of retaining radioactive substances inside,” Tarakanov said, echoing concerns raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The strike had also left it unclear if the shell would last the 100 years it was designed to.
The gaping crater in the structure, which AFP journalists saw this summer, has been covered over with a protective screen, but 300 smaller holes made by firefighters when battling the blaze still need to be filled in.
Scaffolding engulfs the inside of the giant multi-billion-dollar structure, rising all the way up to the 100-meter-high ceiling.
Charred debris from the drone strike that hit the NSC still lay on the floor of the plant, AFP journalists saw on a visit to the site in December.
- ‘Main threat’ -
Russia’s army captured the plant on the first day of its 2022 invasion, before withdrawing a few weeks later.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Moscow of targeting Chernobyl and its other nuclear power plants, saying Moscow’s strikes risk triggering a potentially catastrophic disaster.
Ukraine regularly reduces power at its nuclear plants following Russian strikes on its energy grid.
In October, a Russian strike on a substation near Chernobyl cut power flowing to the confinement structure.
Tarakanov told AFP that radiation levels at the site had remained “stable and within normal limits.”
Inside a modern control room, engineer Ivan Tykhonenko was keeping track of 19 sensors and detection units, constantly monitoring the state of the site.
Part of the 190 tons of uranium that were on site in 1986 “melted, sank down into the reactor unit, the sub-reactor room, and still exists,” he told AFP.
Worries over the fate of the site — and what could happen — run high.
Another Russian hit — or even a powerful nearby strike — could see the inner radiation shell collapse, director Tarakanov told AFP.
“If a missile or drone hits it directly, or even falls somewhere nearby ... it will cause a mini-earthquake in the area,” he said.
“No one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing after that. That is the main threat,” he added.
The 1986 meltdown at the site was the world’s worst ever nuclear incident. Since Russia invaded in 2022, Kyiv fears another disaster could be just a matter of time.
In February, a Russian drone hit and left a large hole in the New Safe Confinement (NSC), the outer of two radiation shells covering the remnants of the nuclear power plant.
It functions as a modern high-tech replacement for an inner steel-and-concrete structure — known as the Sarcophagus, a defensive layer built hastily after the 1986 incident.
Ten months later, repair work is still ongoing, and it could take another three to four years before the outer dome regains its primary safety functions, plant director Sergiy Tarakanov told AFP in an interview from Kyiv.
“It does not perform the function of retaining radioactive substances inside,” Tarakanov said, echoing concerns raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The strike had also left it unclear if the shell would last the 100 years it was designed to.
The gaping crater in the structure, which AFP journalists saw this summer, has been covered over with a protective screen, but 300 smaller holes made by firefighters when battling the blaze still need to be filled in.
Scaffolding engulfs the inside of the giant multi-billion-dollar structure, rising all the way up to the 100-meter-high ceiling.
Charred debris from the drone strike that hit the NSC still lay on the floor of the plant, AFP journalists saw on a visit to the site in December.
- ‘Main threat’ -
Russia’s army captured the plant on the first day of its 2022 invasion, before withdrawing a few weeks later.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Moscow of targeting Chernobyl and its other nuclear power plants, saying Moscow’s strikes risk triggering a potentially catastrophic disaster.
Ukraine regularly reduces power at its nuclear plants following Russian strikes on its energy grid.
In October, a Russian strike on a substation near Chernobyl cut power flowing to the confinement structure.
Tarakanov told AFP that radiation levels at the site had remained “stable and within normal limits.”
Inside a modern control room, engineer Ivan Tykhonenko was keeping track of 19 sensors and detection units, constantly monitoring the state of the site.
Part of the 190 tons of uranium that were on site in 1986 “melted, sank down into the reactor unit, the sub-reactor room, and still exists,” he told AFP.
Worries over the fate of the site — and what could happen — run high.
Another Russian hit — or even a powerful nearby strike — could see the inner radiation shell collapse, director Tarakanov told AFP.
“If a missile or drone hits it directly, or even falls somewhere nearby ... it will cause a mini-earthquake in the area,” he said.
“No one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing after that. That is the main threat,” he added.
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