10 mo. ago • 96%

Turkey says UK minehunters can’t be sent to Ukraine

www.politico.eu Turkey says UK minehunters can’t be sent to Ukraine

Letting two Royal Navy ships through would violate the Montreux Convention, Ankara declares.

Two British minehunter ships destined for Ukraine cannot travel through Turkish waters, Ankara stressed Tuesday, citing an international pact.

U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps announced last month that Ukraine's armed forces had struck a deal to procure the Sandown Class vessels from Britain's Royal Navy as the war-torn country grapples with Russia's continued blockade of the Black Sea.

But Turkey confirmed it had informed its NATO allies that the ships would not be allowed to travel through its waters.

27 comments

The Montreux Convention has been around for just shy of 100 years. So this is news to nobody, additionally they have turned away Russian ships too. The convention clearly states that ships of war of belligerent powers cannot transit the bosphorus straits.

Best I can tell reading it if the British had kept them in their Navy. Sailed them into the Black Sea and then just randomly decided to give them to the Ukrainians that would have worked. Also they're not very big ships I believe they could sail up the Rhine and down the Danube. There is a canal that connects those two rivers and it looks like the ships fit.

Ultimately though Ukrainians may not be able to effectively deploy them at the moment without having them destroyed. They do not have the naval capability to protect them. So it may be in their best interest to not have them in the Black Sea and till the war is over.

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- They can't use Danube. There is no way they can pass through Hungary and Serbia.
  
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  That is a good point. I wonder what if any freedom of navigation treatise exists for the Danube. I am not sure if the Danube River Conference is still a thing or what it said on ships of war.
  
  Still I think that ultimately they couldn't be deployed until after hostilities cease.
  
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  Just tape a bunch of C-5 galaxys together and hang it underneath in a big net.
  
  Yeet it into the black sea just off Odesa.
  
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Turkey ass pieces of shit.

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- Turkey has long prevented warships from transiting the Bosporus Strait in wartime.
  
  I wouldn’t want warships passing my capital city either.
  
  35
  
  They're minesweepers. That's like an unwarship.
  
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  Ankara's their capital, but you're right to point out that this is nothing new.
  
  The policy also ensures that no additional Russian warships get into the Black Sea.
  
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- Look up the Montreux Convention.
  
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  The Montreux Convention does not prevent ships from returning to their ports. Which is presumably exactly what ships they acquired are doing. Returning to their new port.
  
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- UK sends two ship after two years - good guys
  
  Turkey sends hundereds of Bayraktars on day 1 - ass pieces of shit
  
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  Turkey's balancing act to keep its Russian ties is very disappointing.
  
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This is the best summary I could come up with:

LONDON — Two British minehunter ships destined for Ukraine cannot travel through Turkish waters, Ankara stressed Tuesday, citing an international pact.

U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps announced last month that Ukraine's armed forces had struck a deal to procure the Sandown Class vessels from Britain's Royal Navy as the war-torn country grapples with Russia's continued blockade of the Black Sea.

"Our pertinent allies have been duly apprised that the mine-hunting ships donated to Ukraine by the United Kingdom will not be allowed to pass through the Turkish Straits to the Black Sea as long as the war continues," a statement from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's communications directorate said.

The Turkish statement — challenging what it called "disinformation about U.K. mine-hunting ships" — stressed that the Turkish Straits are closed to Russian and Ukrainian warships while the conflict between the two countries continues, citing the Montreux Convention of 1936 which governs maritime traffic through those waters.

Approached for comment, a U.K. Ministry of Defense spokesperson pointed to a press conference by Shapps in London last month at which Ukrainian Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said the vessels could not yet be brought to the Black Sea because of the pact.

But Neizhpapa also noted the ships would still have lots of work to do once the Russia-Ukraine war ends given the ongoing threat of mines in the Black Sea.

The original article contains 266 words, the summary contains 227 words. Saved 15%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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- The Turkish statement — challenging what it called “disinformation about U.K. mine-hunting ships” — stressed that the Turkish Straits are closed to Russian and Ukrainian warships while the conflict between the two countries continues, citing the Montreux Convention of 1936 which governs maritime traffic through those waters.
  
  So basically respecting an international treaty in order to make-sure that nobody will use military force against Turkey to force the passage.
  
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