On August 29, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine invited the Ambassador of Turkey to Ukraine Yagmur Ahmet Güldere in connection with the available information regarding the transportation of S-300PMU-2 anti-aircraft missile systems from Syria to Russia via the Bosphorus Strait by the Sparta II vessel chartered by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
According to the message of the diplomatic service, Deputy Minister Mykola Tochytskyi expressed the concerns of the Ukrainian side to the Turkish ambassador. The Turkish Embassy was handed a verbal note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the raised issue.
“The deputy minister drew the attention of the Turkish ambassador to the fact that, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Regime of the Straits of July 20, 1936, the specified ship falls under the definition of a warship for the purposes of this convention,” the ministry said.
Tochytsky requested the Turkish side to provide official information regarding the cargo that was transported by the ship Sparta II through the Bosphorus Strait, as well as the measures taken by Turkey to implement the provisions of the mentioned convention and prevent further escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“The deputy minister expressed hope that the Turkish side will strictly adhere to its decision of February 28, 2022 to close the Black Sea straits for Russian warships during the Russian-Ukrainian war in line with the consistent position of the Republic of Turkey to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders “, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
It should be noted that according to data from the MarineTraffic resource, the Sparta II ship is currently in the Russian port of Novorossiysk (Krasnodar Territory), where it arrived on August 27. From the Syrian port of Tartus, it went there for seven days.
We will also remind that earlier the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine appealed to Turkey with a request to conduct an investigation in connection with the release from the port of Karasu on July 6 of the Russian ship “Zhibek Zholy”, which was transporting stolen Ukrainian grain from occupied Berdyansk.
