Ukraine asks Turkey to close Turkish straits to Russian warships
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Ukraine's Ambassador to Turkey asks Ankara to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to Russian warships.
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Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey called on all countries to establish a coalition against Russia.
Ukraine's ambassador to Ankara has asked Turkey to restrict the passage of Russia's warships through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits.
"I call on the Turkish administration to help Ukraine. We demand that the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits be closed to Russian warships," the Yeni Safak newspaper quoted Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vadily Bodnar as saying.
Ukraine's envoy also called on all countries to establish "a coalition against Russian President Vladimir Putin" in order to stop the war from engulfing more of the region, TASS reported.
According to the 1936 Montreux Convention, Turkey has sovereignty over the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits, which allows free passage through the straits for trade ships.
Black Sea nations, according to the convention, may move military ships of any class through the straits in peacetime by coordinating with Turkey. However, it also limits the class and movement of ships from non-Black Sea nations; Turkey has additional powers to regulate traffic during wartime, and may ban a country from using the straits.
Ankara and Kiev have economic ties, and have cooperated before in the defense field, with Ukraine being a client for Turkey's drones, inking a deal as recently as February 3 to significantly expand the manufacturing of Ankara's "Bayraktar" unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UACV) in Ukraine.
Turkey can close the Black Sea straits for Russian warships, but then it will have to close them for Ukraine as well, as the unilateral closure of the straits will be considered taking sides with a particular party to the conflict, the TGRT Haber broadcaster reported.
