Russia closing the Black Sea to shipping is just not acceptable. If it is closed, it should be closed to all, and Turkey should not let Russian shipping through. Once upon a time, in 1940, the convoy system was invented, while the US was not at war.
Unfortunately, even if Erdogan wanted to close access to the Mediterranean Sea for Russian merchant ships,
the Montreux Convention makes it clear that Turkey can only close the Turkish Straits to merchant shipping of countries at war with Turkey.
SECTION I.
MERCHANT VESSELS.
Article 2.
In time of peace, merchant vessels shall enjoy complete freedom of transit and navigation in the
Straits, by day and by night, under any flag and with any kind of cargo, without any formalities, except
as provided in Article 3 below. No taxes or charges other than those authorized by Annex I to the
present Convention shall be levied by the Turkish authorities on these vessels when passing in transit
without calling at a port in the Straits.
In order to facilitate the collection of these taxes or charges merchant vessels passing through the
Straits shall communicate to the officials at the stations referred to in Article 3 their name, nationality,
tonnage, destination and last port of call (provenance).
Pilotage and towage remain optional.
Article 3.
All ships entering the Straits by the Aegean Sea or by the Black Sea shall stop at a sanitary station
near the entrance to the Straits for the purposes of the sanitary control prescribed by Turkish law within
the framework of international sanitary regulations. This control, in the case of ships posse-sing a
clean bill of health or presenting a declaration of health testifying that they do not fall within the scope
of the provisions of the second paragraph of the present Article, shall be carried out by day and by
night with all possible speed, and the vessels in question shall not be required to make any other stop
during their passage through the' Straits.
Vessels which have on board cases of plague, cholera, yellow fever exanthematic typhus or smallpox,
or which have had such cases on board during the previous seven days, and vessels which have left
an infected port within less than five times twenty-four hours shall stop at the sanitary stations
indicated in the preceding paragraph in order to embark such sanitary guards as the Turkish
authorities may direct. No tax or charge shall be levied in respect of these sanitary guard and they
shall be disembarked at a sanitary station on departure from the Straits.
Article 4
In time of war, Turkey not being belligerent, merchant vessels, under any flag or with any kind of cargo, shall enjoy freedom of transit and navigation in the Straits subject to the provisions
of Articles 2 and 3.Pilotage and towage remain optional.
Article 5.
In time of war, Turkey being belligerent, merchant vessels not belonging to a country at war
with Turkey shall enjoy freedom of transit and navigation in the Straits on condition that they do not in any way assist the enemy.
Such vessels shall enter the Straits by day and their transit shall be effected by the route
which shall in each case be indicated by the Turkish authorities.
Article 6.
Should Turkey consider herself to be threatened with imminent danger of war, the provisions
of Article 2 shall nevertheless continue to be applied except that vessels must enter the Straits by day and that their transit must be effected by the route which shall, in each case, be indicated by
the Turkish authorities.
Pilotage may, in this case, be made obligatory, but no charge shall be levied.
