adminANKARA. – Turkey has allowed a US warship to pass through the Bosphorus Strait in the next two days amid a growing tension between Russia and Western countries over Crimea, local Daily News reported yesterday.A Turkish diplomatic source confirmed that a US warship had got permission to pass the strait, but it would not be a nuclear aircraft carrier as suggested in some media.
The US warship meets the standards specified by the 1936 Montreux Convention in terms of weight, the source added.
According to the Montreux Convention, the total weight of military ships of the non-littoral states to pass through the Bosphorus Strait cannot exceed 45 000 tonnes.
Previous report said the USS George H.W. Bush nuclear aircraft carrier would transit the strait en route to the Black Sea.
Earlier on Tuesday, two Russian warships passed through the Turkish strait of Bosphorus, heading toward Ukraine.
The Ukrainian crisis, which originated from protests against President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision last November to abandon an association agreement with the European Union and instead seek Russian aid, took an abrupt turn in the past two weeks following bloody clashes between protesters and police. Yanukovych then fled Kiev.
Ukraine’s autonomous republic of Crimea became the new epicentre of an ongoing tension in the East European country, as last week armed groups seized government and parliament buildings in Crimea and took control of the two airports. – Xinhua.
Online Reporter