Turkey Closes Strategic Waterway to UK Minesweeping Ships Bound for Ukraine

Ankara cites 1936 Montreux Convention in justification for the move.

Vessels await inspection under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, in the southern anchorage of the Bosphorus in Istanbul on Dec. 11, 2022. Yoruk Isik/Reuters

NATO member Turkey declined on Jan. 2 to allow two British minesweeping vessels to pass through its territorial waters to reach embattled Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.

The UK had pledged the two ships to Ukraine’s navy last month as part of a British–Norwegian maritime security coalition.