Russia proceeds from the assumption that all the parties interested in maintaining security and stability in the region will respect the Montreux Convention. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said this in an interview with TASS, commenting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement that the planned Istanbul Canal would not fall under the convention.
"We have always appreciated Turkey's position in defense of the Montreux Convention, which for decades has been one of the main instruments for maintaining security and stability in this region. And we assume that all parties, all those who are really interested in maintaining a proper level of security and stability, will do their best to ensure that no technical decisions change the legal regime of the passage of the straits," he said.
The Istanbul Canal project was first announced by Erdogan in 2011 and is intended to be a new navigable artery in western Istanbul, connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. In December 2019, Turkey's president stated that maritime traffic through the canal would not be subject to the Montreux Convention.
The convention, adopted in 1936 at a conference in Montreux, Switzerland, preserved freedom of passage through the straits only for merchant ships. The regime of passage for warships of the Black Sea and non-Black Sea states is different. Thus, subject to prior notification to the authorities of Turkey, the Black Sea powers can conduct their warships of any class through the straits in peacetime. For warships of non-Black Sea powers, there are significant restrictions on the class and tonnage.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Sergey Bobylev / TASS
Based on materials from TASS