Caspian Report - Issue: 07 - Spring 2014

Black Sea.
The situation got really strange.
Firstly, Russia gave a reaction after
one month on April 10 for US warship’s
11-day late checkout on March
9. On the top of it, if the 11-day late
exit is also taken into consideration,
Russia felt a need to react with a
considerable delay, 41 days later in
total! As it will be logical to say that
Russia made a miscalculation or was
late to give a reaction, the only logical
explanation could be: Moscow
approached the announced accident
with suspicion. All of the USA ships
went in and out of the Black Sea on
time except for USS Taylor warship
which had an accident and had to
be pulled by the a towboat as the efforts
to repair the ship failed. Russia,
which wants to put Turkey in a difficult
position by bringing the violation
claim to the agenda for no reason,
is actually turning the Montreux
Convention into a discussion topic.
This is a development which neither
Turkey nor Russia wants. So, why is
Russia doing this We can briefly and
clearly say that Russia is disturbed
by the entry of the US ships to the
Black Sea although it is in compliance
with the Montreux clauses, and
it uses the stay of USS Taylor warship
as an excuse. Russia is sending
implicit warnings primarily to Turkey
and then to the USA with these
statements.
The changing balances in the Black
Sea are the basis of Russia’s intention
to bring Montreux to the agenda.
The 2008 War proved that it was a
right decision to limit the entrance
of non-regional actors to the Black
Sea. Turkey’s Montreux policy was
appreciated particularly by Russia.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea and
its Ukraine policy have changed not
only the balances but also the discussions
in the Black Sea. Russia, in
a sense, announced its dominance
in the Black Sea with the Crimea
move. However, we can say that in
the view of Russia which is now face
to face with economic and political
sanctions due to this move, the possibility
of changing the policies about
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CASPIAN REPORT, SPRING 2014