Turkey to block passage of Russian warships in Black Sea; Moscow disputes access claims

NATO member Turkey on Saturday said that it is considering blocking the access of the Russian warships in crucial straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea after Ukraine called on Turkey to block Russian vessels. “I am calling out to the Turkish administration, help Ukraine. We are making a request for the Dardanelles Strait to be closed. We ask for sanctions to be imposed on Russia," said ambassador Vasyl Bodnar in a tweet from the Ukrainian embassy official in Ankara. 

Turkey issued the first official clarification since Zelenskyy's appeal, stating that Turkey has agreed to cut off the waterways to Moscow’s warships in one of the crucial moves with respect to Russia’s maritime warfare capabilities. Russia, in its fierce response to Turkey, disputed a claim over Black Sea access via the Interfax news agency, that no official notification of the closure was sent to Moscow. Under Montreux convention, asserted Russia, war vessels sailing in Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits will be allowed to return to port. “If Turkey did go ahead and ban warships from the strait, it would break the convention,” warned Russia via its state-affiliated Interfax agency. 

[Credit: AP]

This image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of deployments at Opuk training area at the Black Sea coast of Crimea. [Credit: AP]

The 1936 international treaty Montreux Convention makes Turkey a strategic and a key player in the Ukraine-Russia war as it has the power to control the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus straits, the main choke point to the Black Sea used by Russian Naval forces to transit in the region. The treaty grants Turkey the sole right to block naval vessels in an event of a war, including if Turkey’s own security is threatened. As several foreign commercial cargo ships, including Turkey’s own Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier and Japan’s Panama-registered freighter Namura Queen was hit by a bomb off the coast of Odessa and ports of Mariupol, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan summoned top security officials meeting to take the risky step of blocking Black sea access.

Russian Defense Ministry Press Service shows Russian navy ships are seen during navy drills in the Black Sea. Russia has insisted that it has the right to close areas of the Black Sea for foreign naval ships and rejected Ukrainian and Western criticism of the move. [Credit: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP]

This image provided by Maxar Technologies shows 11 SU-34 aircraft at Morozovsk airbase in Russia. Turkey has the right to restrict foreign naval ships' movement in Black Sea. [Credit: AP]

Kremlin's access to key naval base in Syria risks a 'cut-off'

Despite having close ties with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in recent years, Turkey is considering blocking the crucial maritime waterways to Russian vessels. Kremlin has a key naval base in Syria, that conducted large naval drills in the Mediterranean and Gulf of Oman. Russia’s warships have been heading towards the Black Sea from the Mediterranean for its military manoeuvres. As Russia’s offensive on Kyiv intensified, Russian navy’s Baltic Fleet and the Northern Fleet were passing the Bosphorus in "a planned manner.”

Russian Defense Ministry Press Service shows Russian navy ships are seen during navy drills in the Black Sea. [Credit: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP]

As many as 140 military warships and more than 10,000 Russian naval forces conducted drills in the Black Sea ahead of Kyiv’s all-out invasion. Turkey, which shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, had failed to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv to de-escalate the situation. 

Ankara had earlier appeared reluctant to unilaterally execute a blockade of the Black Sea straits to the Russian navy, citing a clause in the international pact. Ships in the Mediterranean and Black sea, it said, were able to return to their home defence bases after transit through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus, the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had said. 

Image: AP