International – Turkey says US has canceled two Black Sea warships

In full tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the United States this week canceled the sending of two warships to the Black Sea via the Strait of Psforo and the Tordenelles, Turkish newspapers and officials said on Wednesday (14).

The first shipwreck did not take place on Wednesday, as Turkish diplomatic sources predicted. According to Anatolia, a state news agency quoting Turkish public officials, both rallies have been canceled and Ankara has not been notified of the postponement.

Turkish officials announced last week on April 14 and 15 that the United States had announced that two warships were heading for the Black Sea to cross the Strait of Bisborne and Tortonelles. The Montreal Conference, which began in 1936, guarantees free travel across the Straits of Turkey, but countries in the Black Sea must give 15 days’ notice in advance, and ships cannot stay on that water for more than 21 days.

The announcement of this detachment came amid tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with the decision to send warships from Washington as a sign of support for Kiev.

The maneuver came a day after a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. During the call, Biden called on the Russian president to “reduce tensions” in Ukraine and propose a meeting in a third country “in the coming months,” the White House said.

The recent concentration of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border and on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, has caused concern in the West. The troop mobilization comes in the wake of new incidents between Kiev forces and pre-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.