Türkiye is preparing to block passage for Russian ships, in defiance of the Montreux Convention – Bortnik
Türkiye may violate its international obligations and close shipping to Russian Black Sea ports.
Kyiv political scientist Ruslan Bortnik stated this in his video blog, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Citing media reports, the Ukrainian expert noted that Türkiye has restricted the passage of commercial vessels into the Black Sea bound for Russian ports, requiring additional time for inspections.
"Let me remind you that Novorossiysk is one of Russia's key ports for export, and Ukraine agreed not to attack the Caspian Pipeline Consortium infrastructure, the part that goes through Novorossiysk.
"What happens now? If Ukraine agreed not to attack this infrastructure, and Russia refuses to provide any guarantees not to attack part of Ukraine's infrastructure, and international shipping suffers, Turkey could restrict the passage of Russian ships into the Black Sea," the Ukrainian political scientist argued.
He also recalled that the Montreux Convention does not allow Turkey to take such actions against civil vessels.
“But the fact is that so many international legal norms and international agreements have already been violated in this war that if Turkey violates another one or simply sabotages it, citing some technicalities, it will have no effect.
This could trigger an additional crisis between Turkey and Russia, a tomato crisis or some other kind, involving any instruments of Russian pressure on Turkey. Although this would be difficult, because the Turkish Stream pipeline is currently very important for Russia, specifically for its energy exports from the European part.
But I don’t rule out that Turkey could now exert pressure on both Russia and Ukraine in this way, restricting shipping to both Ukrainian and Russian ports, demanding that they reach a new grain or other ceasefire,” Bortnik is confident.
Turkey is preparing to block passage for Russian ships, in defiance of the Montreux Convention – Bortnik