Turkey will limit the passage of Russian warships through its straits linking the Mediterranean and Black Sea as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues into its sixth day, in a move that will likely have a larger impact on the Syrian front than the war in Ukraine.

The position became public after Turkey’s top diplomat divulged details yesterday, following Ankara's depiction of the situation as “an unlawful war” on Feb. 27. 

“We warned all countries, both littoral and non-littoral [to the Black Sea], not to pass their warships through the straits," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Feb. 28, “We implemented what Montreux says, and we will continue to do so from now on," he added. Turkey has the right to deny warships passage to and from the Black Sea during wartime, under the Montreux Convention, one of the founding treaties of the modern Turkish Republic.  

What it means: Cavusoglu’s remarks do not amount to an official closure of the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits, but they indicate that Turkey will block the passage of some Russian warships from entering and leaving the Black Sea.