Turkey has resumed allowing commercial vessels to transit the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits into the Black Sea, ending a brief suspension of passage permits that followed an escalation of maritime attacks in the region.
The oil tanker Aegean Dream entered the Dardanelles on Sunday after waiting since Thursday, while the container ship Mehmet Kahveci A passed through the strait on the morning of Aug. 9 bound for the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Turkish authorities had informed some vessels that transit permits were not being issued as drone and missile strikes intensified. Ukraine's drone forces hit 75 Russian tankers in the Black Sea since July 6, while Russia carried out 23 strikes on Ukrainian ports and 17 attacks on civilian vessels in the first two weeks of July.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan proposed that both Russia and Ukraine declare a temporary moratorium on Black Sea attacks, according to Turkish officials. Turkey, which controls the straits under the 1936 Montreux Convention, has refused to join Western sanctions on Russia while continuing to supply military support to Ukraine.