In the event of an attack, Ukraine may ask Turkey to close the straits to Russia in the Black Sea – Ambassador
Ukraine has the right under the Montreux Convention to request Turkey to close the protocols and prevent additional Russian forces from entering the Black Sea.
This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar.
“Whatever the situation is that the Russian side has decided to attack Ukraine, then these are other conditions for the application of the provisions of the convention, the decision to close or restrict the passage of the Strait. Then, on the basis of this convention, we have the right to ask Turkey to close the protocols and thus prevent additional Russian forces from entering the Black Sea, “Bodnar said.
The diplomat said that the Montreux Convention allows Turkey to maintain its confidence in the Straits during a special period, or in the case of the envisaged convention. Then Turkey itself decides which ships to launch and which not.
“There is no reason to close the straits in Turkey, at least for now. There are no current restrictions on the Black Sea state, no restrictions on black time and tonnage. There are peculiarities in the submarine fleet, “the ambassador said.
He recalled that in February, Russian ships entered the Black Sea en masse, where they conducted training and posed threats to civilian shipping, but formally it all happened without violating the Montreux Convention. Similarly, the United States, France or another country can send a formal request and have the right to enter the Black Sea for three weeks, and they do so.
The Montreux Convention of 1936 restored Turkey’s sovereignty over the Black Straits in the Mediterranean. The Montreux Convention preserves for the commercial courts of all countries the freedom of passage through protocol in both peacetime and wartime. The regime of passage of warships is a different view of the Black Sea and Black Sea states.