Sample Page Title

Izmir BayANKARA, Feb 28The Turkish Cabinet of Ministers, chaired by President Tayyip Erdogan, will discuss on Monday Ukraine's demand to close the straits for Russian warships, NTV channel reports in the morning. Earlier, a source in the Turkish leader's administration told RIA Novosti that a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers will be held on Monday, chaired by Erdogan, at which the current situation will be discussed in Ukraine and further steps of Ankara. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky on Twitter published a statement on the ban on the passage of Russian ships through the straits in Turkey, without indicating whether such a decision was made by Erdogan or not. After that, RIA Novosti was informed in the Istanbul Coastal Security Department that the Turkish straits were open for the passage of Russian ships, they had not received any decisions. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey can close the Bosporus and Dardanelles for the passage of Russian warships, but the Russian Federation will have the right to return its fleet to the base. .jpg» />The Turkish Foreign Minister declared his commitment to the provisions of the Montreux Convention «Ukraine requires Ankara to close the straits for Russian warships in accordance with the Montreux Convention. It is expected that this request will be discussed at the meeting,» the TV channel reported. The Montreux Convention was adopted in 1936. It preserves the freedom of passage through the straits for merchant ships both in peacetime and in wartime, but the regimes are different for everyone. At the same time, the document limits the stay in the Black Sea of ​​warships of non-Black Sea states for a period of three weeks. In emergency situations, Turkey has the right to prohibit or restrict the passage of the military through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, which had declared independence from Kyiv back in 2014, and on February 24, Russia launched a military operation to demilitarization of Ukraine. In an address to fellow citizens, Putin said that circumstances “require decisive and immediate action,” as the Donbass republics have asked for help. According to the Russian leader, the entire responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine. stressed that the Russian Armed Forces do not inflict any strikes on the cities of Ukraine: military infrastructure is disabled by high-precision means. The civilian population, according to the department, is not in danger. In response, Western countries have imposed another anti-Russian sanctions since 2014. Many EU countries announced the decision to close the airspace for Russian aircraft. The Russian Federation responded by restricting the use of its airspace to flights of aircraft associated with or registered with the UK, including transit flights, from 25 February. As the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said earlier, the Western sanctions are very serious, Russia was preparing for them in advance. He added that they require analysis and coordination of departments in order to develop response measures that are in the interests of the Russian Federation. Posted by: Ekaterina Zaitseva