Turkey says Russia cancelled Black Sea passage bid upon its request
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[March 02, 2022]
ANKARA (Reuters) - Russia cancelled
a bid to send four of its warships through Turkish waters into the Black
Sea at Turkey's request, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, adding
the decision was made before Ankara closed the straits over Moscow's
invasion of Ukraine.
NATO ally Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has
good ties with both. On Monday, Ankara said it had closed its Bosphorus
and Dardanelles straits under a 1936 pact, allowing it to curb some
Russian vessels crossing. The pact exempts vessels returning to their
bases.
Cavusoglu told broadcaster Haberturk late on Tuesday that Turkey had
asked Russia not to send its ships through before it labelled Moscow's
invasion a "war" on Sunday, legally allowing it to curb passages under
the Montreux Convention.
"Russia has said four of its ships would cross the straits on Feb 27-28,
three of which are not registered to bases in the Black Sea," Cavusoglu
said. "We told Russia not to send these ships and Russia said the
vessels would not cross the straits."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Mar/02/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
"Nobody should be offended by this, because the Montreux Convention is
valid today, yesterday and tomorrow, so we will implement it," he said.
Reuters reported earlier this week that at least four Russian ships -
two destroyers, a frigate, and an intelligence vessel - were waiting on
Turkey's decision to cross from the Mediterranean. Two of them, a
frigate and a destroyer, had asked to make the journey this week.
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![](../images/030222pics/news_n87.jpg)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a news conference
with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib in Beirut, Lebanon
November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Mar/02/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png) The United States "expressed
appreciation" for Turkey's move to close the straits. Ukraine's
ambassador to Ankara said Kyiv was "grateful" to Turkey for
"meticulously" implementing the pact.
While calling Russia's invasion an unacceptable violation of
international law, Turkey has carefully formulated its rhetoric not
to offend Moscow, with which it has close energy, defence and
tourism ties. It has called for dialogue and offered to host peace
talks.
Cavusoglu repeated on Tuesday that Turkey would not join its Western
allies in imposing economic sanctions on Russia.
While forging close cooperation with Russia, Turkey has also sold
drones to Kyiv and signed a deal to co-produce more, angering
Moscow. It also opposes Russian policies in Syria and Libya, as well
as its 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Wednesday the
country was set to receive another shipment of Turkish drones, a
move likely to anger Russia.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren
Butler and Andrew Heavens)
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