Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday for Turkey's humanitarian and military support, saying a “ban on the passage of (Russian) warships to the Black Sea” was very important for his country.
Turkey, which controls the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits that link the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, has not publicly announced any ban on Russian warships using the straits despite Ukraine’s urgent requests that it do so.
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Russia has received no official notification from Turkey on the closure of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian warships, the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian embassy in Turkey as saying.
On Friday Turkey’s foreign minister said that under the 1936 convention covering the matter, Ankara could not bar warships returning to a home base in the Black Sea from passing through the straits. Russia has a major naval base in the Black Sea.
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