In a few months, the world will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Montreux Convention, which defined the status of the Black Sea straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. The Montreux Convention is almost the only international treaty that has existed without amendments all this time. However, since 1991, Turkey has been making attempts to replace the convention with internal Turkish laws and make international straits its internal waters. It is easy to understand that if the straits come under Turkish control with a permit system for civil and military vessels to pass through them, the Russian economy will suffer enormous damage, and the security of the Russian Federation will be threatened.
THE ROAD FROM THE VARIANS TO THE GREKS
We must not forget that the path from the Varangians to the Greeks and further to the Mediterranean Sea became the state-forming one for Russia.
Rus ships passed the straits already in the 9th century. So, in the "Life of St. George of Amastrid" speaks of the invasion of the Rus on the Byzantine city in Asia Minor Amastrid somewhere between 830 and 842.
On June 18, 860, about 200 Rus ships came to the Bosphorus. We know about this campaign from Byzantine sources, among which the most valuable belong to Patriarch Photius (about 810 - after 886) - a witness and participant of this event. I will note that the campaign of the Rus was carried out not for the purpose of plunder, but first of all as retribution for the murder and enslavement for the debts of several Rus in Constantinople.
It is curious that the Rus flotilla was commanded by Prince Askold. The same Askold, who in 844 stormed the Spanish city of Seville. The Arab historian calls him Askold al Dir (translated from the Gothic Djur means "beast"). Two centuries later, the Kiev chronicler misunderstood or did not hear something, and as a result, two princes appeared in the history of Karamzin's Russia - Askold and Dir.
It is important for us that in the 9th century the Russian prince Askold and his retinue passed through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles at least twice.
Then came the campaigns to Constantinople of the Russian princes Oleg, Igor and others. Note that these were not purely predatory raids. Several times the Russian princes concluded peace treaties with the Byzantine Empire, the main purpose of which was the rights of Russian merchants to visit the straits.
In 1204, Constantinople was treacherously captured by the crusaders. The "soldiers of Christ" set out on the fourth crusade to free Jerusalem from the infidels. Instead, they staged a savage pogrom of Orthodox shrines in Constantinople.
It is not hard to guess that in 1204 the Russian trading quarter was also completely destroyed.
The almost complete cessation of Russian trade in Constantinople and transit through the straits led to the economic and political extinction of Kiev.
In 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople, renamed it Istanbul and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire. It is worth noting here that the Russian princes were powerless to provide military assistance to the last Byzantine emperors, separated from Constantinople not only by sea, but also by hundreds of miles of the Wild Field controlled by the Tatars.
Nevertheless, even in this extremely difficult situation, the Russian Church sent huge sums of money to Constantinople. For example, Metropolitan Kirill sent 20 thousand rubles to Constantinople only in 1395-1396. (a huge amount at that time). How this money was spent is unknown, but it is obvious that the overwhelming majority of it went to defense needs.
By the beginning of the 16th century, almost the entire Black Sea coast became the possession of the Sultan or his vassals. As a result, Russia lost access to the shores of the Black Sea for three and a half centuries.
SHADOW OF ALLAH ON EARTH
The Turkish sultans called themselves the shadow of Allah on earth. The sultan was simultaneously considered the caliph, that is, the head of all Muslims. The Moscow sovereigns did not hesitate to give a worthy answer in the "ideological" war - "Moscow is the third Rome, and there will not be a fourth."
On Easter 1656, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Christ in Christ with the Greek merchants, promised to free them from Turkish slavery: "God will call me to account on the day of judgment, if, having the opportunity to free them, I neglect it."
Alas, the wars with the Turks of Peter the Great and Anna Ioannovna did not allow Russia to reach the shores of the Black Sea. Only after the war of 1768-1774, Catherine II managed to achieve the inclusion in the text of the Kainadzhi treaty of an article on the right of passage through the straits for Russian merchant ships. Yes, and these ships were limited in size. But, alas, the sultans, after 1774, interpreted this article at their own whim: if they want, they will let the Russian ships pass, if they want, they will not.
General Bonaparte helped us to regain the primordial right of Russia to free passage through the straits of military and merchant ships, which, as we know, was obtained by force by Prince Askold for himself. His troops captured the Ionian Islands in 1797, and the following year, the "enemy of the human race" landed in Egypt. Selim III, expecting to see the French on the Bosphorus, turned with a tearful request for help to Emperor Paul I. On December 23, 1798 (January 3, 1799 according to the new style) in Constantinople, an Allied Defense Treaty was concluded between the All-Russian Empire and the Ottoman Porte. Turkey has pledged to open the straits for the Russian navy. "For all other nations, without exception, the entrance to the Black Sea will be closed." Thus, the treaty made the Black Sea a closed Russian-Turkish basin. At the same time, the right of Russia, as a Black Sea power, was fixed to be one of the guarantors of the shipping regime of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.
As they say, history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, but if Turkey strictly observed this treaty, then it would be possible to put an end to the history of the Russian-Turkish wars. After all, Sweden and Russia concluded peace in 1809 and have never fought until now. Although Europe was constantly pressing on Sweden to force them to fight with the Russians.
Admiral Ushakov's squadron marched through the Bosphorus to a roar of fireworks, greeted by crowds of Turks and even by Selim III himself. However, on the instigation of the Western powers, in the fall of 1806 the Turks closed the straits to Russian warships and imposed serious restrictions on the passage of merchant ships. The result was the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1811.
This is followed by a series of treaties (Unkar-Iskelesiyskiy in 1833, London in 1841 and 1871), according to which merchant ships of all countries could freely pass through the straits, and military ships were prohibited from entering, except, of course, the ships of the Turkish fleet.
It should be noted that since 1857 the Turks have selectively let Russian warships through the straits. For example, in 1858 two new 135-cannon ships - Sinop and Tsarevich - sailed from Nikolaev to the Mediterranean Sea. And in 1857-1858 six corvettes passed in the opposite direction. In 1859, the steam frigate "Thunderbolt" with the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich visited Istanbul, and so on. However, during the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905, the Turks refused to let the ships of the Black Sea Fleet pass through the Bosphorus.
THE MONTREUX CONVENTION
Only in 1936, in the Swiss city of Montreux, a more or less acceptable convention on the straits was concluded.
The Convention confirmed the principle of the right of free passage and navigation in the straits and declared free passage through the straits of merchant ships of all countries.
In peacetime, merchant ships enjoy complete freedom of passage through the straits day and night, regardless of flag and cargo, without any formalities.
Pilotage of vessels is optional. However, at the request of the captains of ships heading to the Black Sea, pilots can be summoned from the corresponding pilotage points on the approaches to the straits.
During a war, if Turkey is not a belligerent, merchant ships, regardless of flag and cargo, will enjoy complete freedom of transit and navigation in the straits under the same conditions as in peacetime. If Turkey is a belligerent, then merchant ships that do not belong to a country in the war with Turkey enjoy freedom of passage and navigation in the straits, provided that these ships do not render any assistance to the enemy and enter the straits only during the day.
The convention provides for a sharp demarcation for the passage of ships of coastal and non-coastal powers to the Black Sea through the straits.
The passage of warships of coastal powers has been declared free in time of peace, provided that certain requirements are met. So, only the Black Sea states are allowed to sail all types of surface ships through the straits, regardless of their weapons and displacement.
Only the Black Sea states can navigate submarines through the straits in the following cases:
1) for the purpose of returning submarines built or purchased outside the Black Sea to their bases in the Black Sea, provided that Turkey will be notified in advance of the bookmark or purchase;
2) if it is necessary to repair submarines at shipyards outside the Black Sea, provided that the exact data on this issue will be communicated to Turkey.
In both cases, submarines must pass the straits alone, only during the day and on the surface.
The non-Black Sea states are allowed to pass through the straits ships with a displacement of up to 10 thousand tons with artillery of caliber up to 203 mm inclusive.
In the event of Turkey's participation in the war, the passage of warships through the straits depends solely on the discretion of the Turkish government. Turkey has the right to apply this article also if it “would consider itself under the threat of an imminent military threat”.
With the outbreak of World War II, Turkey declared its neutrality. In fact, the Turkish authorities directly and indirectly helped Germany and Italy. Indeed, battleships, cruisers and even destroyers of these countries did not pass through the straits, but only because the Axis powers did not need it. Italy already did not have enough warships to counter the British fleet in the Mediterranean, and the Germans did not have their own surface ships there at all.
However, the German minelayers, minesweepers, PLO ships, landing craft, military transports of all kinds passed through the Bosphorus by the hundreds annually in 1941-1944. At the same time, part of the artillery weapons was occasionally dismantled and stored in the holds.
One of the most important communications of the Third Reich went through the Danube, the ports of Romania, the straits, and then to the territory of Greece occupied by the Germans, to the Balkans and further to Italy and France.
Did the passage of German ships through the straits correspond to the Montreux convention? There were no obvious gross violations, but nevertheless there was something to complain about. In 1941, 1942 and 1943, the Soviet embassy in Ankara repeatedly drew the attention of the Turkish Foreign Ministry to the violation of the Montreux convention, to the inadmissibility of passage through the straits of German and other ships under the flags of the merchant fleet, but, according to the information available to the embassy, "for military purposes."
A memorandum from the Soviet ambassador Vinogradov, handed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sarjoglu on June 17, 1944, referred to a number of cases of passage through the straits of German military and military auxiliary vessels under the guise of merchant ships.
The Montreux Convention is still in effect. Until 1991, the Turks were afraid of Soviet military power and more or less tolerably fulfilled all of its articles. The main violations of the convention were limited to the occasional admission to the Black Sea of American cruisers and destroyers with missiles on board. Moreover, the missiles could have nuclear warheads. I would like to note that the US Navy, when entering ports of other states, fundamentally does not provide information about the presence or absence of nuclear weapons on board.
At the time of the conclusion of the convention in 1936, there were no guided missiles or nuclear weapons, and the extremely powerful naval weapon to be allowed into the Black Sea was the 203-millimeter cannon. The maximum range of such a weapon was 40 km, and the weight of the projectile was 100 kg. Obviously, similar restrictions should be extended to modern missile weapons, that is, the firing range of missiles is 40 km and the weight of the missile is no more than 100 kg.
The range of the American Tomahawk cruise missiles is about 2,600 km. Such missiles are launched from torpedo tubes of submarines and silo launchers of cruisers of the Ticonderoga type and destroyers of the types Orly Bird, Spruens, etc. During the two wars with Iraq and the aggression in Yugoslavia, US surface ships and submarines made massive launches missiles "Tomahawk". Moreover, in most cases, these missiles ensured the destruction of point objects - positions of ballistic and anti-aircraft missiles, underground bunkers, bridges, etc.
If the connections of US ships with Tomahawk missiles enter the Black Sea, then the entire territory of the Russian Federation up to the Urals, inclusive, will be within their range. Even without the use of nuclear warheads, Tomahawks can disable most of our missile launchers, headquarters and other infrastructure.
Istanbul, as in the past, is the largest trade and transit hub at the intersection of strategically important sea routes.
Photo by the author
AS I WANT AND I DO THE DOLL
After the collapse of the USSR and the coming to power of the Yeltsin government, Turkish rulers began to try to unilaterally change the articles of the Montreux convention. So, on July 1, 1994, Turkey introduced new rules for navigation in the straits. According to them, the Turkish authorities received the right to suspend navigation in the straits during construction work, including underwater drilling, fire fighting, research activities and sports events, acts of rescue and assistance, measures to prevent and eliminate the consequences of marine pollution, investigation operations crimes and accidents and in other similar cases, as well as the right to impose compulsory pilotage where they deem it necessary.
Ships over 200 m in length must pass the straits during daylight hours and always with a Turkish pilot. The Turkish authorities received the right to inspect merchant ships, primarily tankers, for their compliance with national and international operational and environmental standards. Fines and other sanctions have been introduced for non-compliance with these standards - up to sending the vessel back, restrictions on parking (refueling) in adjacent ports, etc.
Back in February 1996, the question of the illegality of the introduction by Turkey of the Regulations for Navigation in the Straits was raised at a meeting of the Committee on Economic, Trade, Technological and Environmental Issues of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Countries. For example, as a result of the introduction of the regulation from July 1, 1994 to December 31, 1995, there were 268 cases of unjustified delays of Russian ships, which led to the loss of 1,553 hours of operational time and damage in the amount of more than 885 thousand US dollars, excluding lost profits. lost contracts and late penalties.
In October 2002, Turkey adopted a new instruction on the application of the rules of navigation in the straits. Now large-tonnage vessels must pass the Bosphorus only during daylight hours and at a speed of no more than 8 knots. Note that both banks of the Bosphorus are heavily illuminated all night. And according to experts, ships with "dangerous cargo" under the new rules must warn the Turkish authorities about the passage of the Bosporus 72 hours in advance. From Novorossiysk to the Bosphorus - 48 hours walk, from Odessa - even less. If the preliminary application was received at the wrong time, downtime, delays, and increased transport costs are inevitable.
The Turkish authorities complain that on average 136 ships use the straits for navigation a day, of which 27 are tankers.
Note that this is not so much, and the interval between ships going in both directions is 21 minutes.
In September 2010, the windows of our ship overlooked the Bosphorus, and within five days I was convinced that transit ships through the Bosphorus (including Turkish ones) go quite rarely, sometimes no one is visible for several hours. In any case, in the 1980s, the movement of ships on the Neva, Volga and along the Volgo-Balt canals and them. Moscow was an order of magnitude more intense, which I also personally observed.
Only the Turks themselves create an emergency situation on the Bosphorus. For example, on November 3, 1970 in the Dardanelles Strait in the fog a Turkish dry cargo ship began to approach the Dzerzhinsky cruiser. The cruiser gave way to the Turk, but he moved on to the cruiser and rammed him to the port side in the area of the 18-20 frame. After that, the Turkish dry cargo ship "Trave" left the scene of the collision.
They may argue that this is, they say, an isolated case. So ask our sailors if there was at least one case of our large warships passing through the Bosphorus without the accompaniment of Turkish military and suspicious civilian boats flying like flies? These boats passed by the sides of our ships at a distance of several meters. According to the sailors, at least two of these boats died under the bows of the ships. For example, on March 15, 1983, the Novorossiysk heavy aircraft carrier entered the Bosphorus. In the strait, he was accompanied by three Turkish missile boats, three large patrol boats, as well as two reconnaissance ships with hulls of black and white colors, for which our sailors called them "White Cardinal" and "Black Cardinal".
In 2003, a Turkish boat tried to interfere with the passage of the large landing ship "Caesar Kunikov" and demanded to stop via VHF. The commander of the ship, Captain 2nd Rank Sergei Sinkin replied: "Do not interfere with my actions." Submachine gunners - marines deployed on the deck, the crew took up combat posts on alarm.
Dozens of small passenger ships such as our Moskvich river tram, crossing the fairway in the center of Istanbul in complete disorder, greatly interfere with navigation in the Bosphorus. A natural question arises: who is interfering with whom - international shipping for these ships or vice versa? According to experts, almost all collisions in recent years have occurred with the ships of the Turkish coastal fleet, which sail across the straits, but the Turkish side is trying to keep quiet about this.
Why shouldn't the Turkish authorities regulate the movement of river trams? By the way, there are already two bridges across the Bosphorus in Istanbul and a third is being built, and in 2009 a railway tunnel with 11 (!) High-speed train lines was to be put into operation. Now they want to finish it by the end of this year.
CONTRACTS MUST BE OBSERVED
In parallel with the rant about the complexity of the situation on the Bosphorus, the Turkish authorities have built dozens of small ferries, which rush in all directions at a speed of 30-40 knots. All over the world they are trying to build large ferries with a speed of 6-8 knots. With such a speed, it is quite possible to cross the Bosphorus in 8-10 minutes. It is not hard to guess that high-speed ferries are potential tank landing ships. Of course, the Turks are free to build them, but is there a place for these "meteors" in the Bosphorus?
Vessel traffic management in the Bosphorus remains at an archaic level. Meanwhile, according to studies carried out by the Lloyd's Register Department of Navigation Safety Technologies, a modern radar control system is able to increase the throughput of the straits several times.
Finally, the Turks grossly violate the Montreux Convention by arrogating to themselves the right to search foreign ships. For example, in 1997, the Republic of Cyprus wished to purchase an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system from the Russian Federation, which in those years was a completely routine matter. And the Russians sold the S-300, and the Americans supplied their similar Patriot complex to dozens of countries, including the Mediterranean. But then the Turkish government announced that it would seize by force the ships carrying the S-300 to Cyprus, and even conducted an illegal search in the straits of several ships flying the flags of Ukraine, Egypt, Ecuador and Equatorial Guinea.
Note that it was easy to deliver the S-300 to Cyprus from the Baltic under the escort of Russian and Greek warships. But the Yeltsin government did not agree to this and silently watched as the Turks defiantly wipe their feet on the Montreux Convention.
By the way, I am not aware of the protests of the Russian government on other violations of the convention. Maybe one of our diplomats complained, maybe made a grimace. But is such a reaction worthy of our state? The Russian Federation has enough leverage, from economic to military, to remind Turkey of the ancient postulate - Pacta sunt servanda - that treaties must be respected.
