The Auckland cargo ship from the Russian port of Novorossiysk crosses the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul on March 1, 2022. FRANCISCO SECO / AP
Four Russian warships intending to reach the Black Sea have been unable to cross the Turkish straits locked by Ankara since the beginning of the week. In response to a “friendly request” from Turkey, Moscow has refused to transit its ships, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with Habertürk Channel on Tuesday (March 1st). “We told Russia not to send these ships and Russia said they would not cross the strait,” he explained.
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On Monday, Ankara announced that it had closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles under the Montreux Convention, signed in 1936. The agreement allowed it to prevent the passage of military buildings during the war unless they returned to their bases. “Russia has said four of its ships will cross the Strait on February 27-28. Three of them are not based in the Black Sea, “said the head of Turkish diplomacy.
The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles connect the Mediterranean with the Black Sea, from which Russia began its invasion of southern Ukraine. Long before the assault began, many Russian ships were already stationed in the Black Sea.
Trade relations
From February 9th to 16th, six landing ships and a submarine crossed the Bosphorus to the Crimean peninsula, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia. Strongly demanded by the pro-Western government in Kyiv, Ankara eventually agreed to close the passage to all warships except those in the Black Sea.
While condemning Russian aggression, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to spare Russia, which supplies Turkey with gas (34% of consumption), wheat, anti-aircraft missiles, a nuclear power plant run 100% by Russian giant Rosatom and more than four million tourists a year.
Trade links are also excellent with Ukraine, which bought Bayraktar TB2 drones and had to produce them on its own land. A joint venture between Baykar, the manufacturer of TB2, and the Ukrainian company Ukrspecexport, which had just been set up for this purpose, had just acquired land not far from Vasilkiv Air Base, 53km from Kyiv, where drone control is controlled. Bravely defended by the Ukrainian army, the base was targeted five days ago by Russian missiles that reached fuel depots, causing a huge fire.
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