Ukraine. Türkiye did not allow two British minesweepers donated to Ukraine to enter

Turkish authorities said on Tuesday that they would not allow two minesweepers provided by Britain to Ukraine to pass through its waters on their way to the Black Sea because that would violate an international agreement on the movement of ships through the Turkish Straits in times of war. .

Great Britain announced in December last year that it would transfer two minesweepers of Royal Navy resources to the Ukrainian Navy. NATO member Turkey told its allies on Tuesday that it will not allow ships to use the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits while the war in Ukraine continues.

A minesweeper is a ship designed to clear mines using towed minesweepers, as well as to lay mines.

Reuters noted that since the Russian attack on Ukraine, the authorities in Ankara have been trying to maintain good relations with both Kiev and Moscow and remain neutral.

“The claim of some media outlets that ‘mining ships donated by Britain to Ukraine will be able to pass through the Turkish straits leading to the Black Sea’ is not true. From the beginning, Turkey thought about the ‘special military operation’ that Russia would carry out against Ukraine.” The media center of the Turkish President's Office said: “The war, in accordance with Article 19 of the Montreux Convention, relating to the right to pass through the straits, closed it to warships belonging to both warring parties (Russia and Ukraine).”

“Turkey, which has been respecting the Montreux Convention fairly and conscientiously since 1936, (…) is trying to prevent the escalation of tensions in the Black Sea. Our most important allies have been duly informed that the minesweepers transferred to Ukraine by the superpowers,” the statement added. Britain would not be allowed to cross the Black Sea.

The Montreux Convention, concluded in 1936, is an agreement regulating the law of the sea in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits in the Black Sea. This concerns the law and rules of passage through the Black Sea Strait for ships and ships that do not belong to Turkey and in whose territorial waters the straits are located. The signatory countries were Australia, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Japan, Romania, Turkey, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. It is still in effect today. Under its provisions, warships of warring states may not pass through the Turkish Straits during war. Ships from other countries could, but under the agreement, the authorities in Ankara have the final say on the matter – if Turkey believes that the passage of such a ship might drag it into war, it does not agree.