Turkey shut down the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits to warships from any country, even if they border the Black Sea, following Russia’s war with Ukraine.

According to reports from Naval News, the closure of the straits will still let warships pass through if they are returning to their homeport in the Black Sea Naval News. This includes Russian vessels in the Kremlin’s Black Sea Fleet.

The decision to deny battleships, an authority granted to Ankara by the 1936 Montreux Convention, will likely restrict Russia’s ability to transport navy vessels from its other fleets to the Black Sea.

According to Naval News, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters that although Turkey is not considered a belligerent in this conflict, it can restrict the passage of battleships from countries at war.

“If the warship is returning to its base in the Black Sea, the passage is not closed. We adhere to the Montreux rules. All governments, riparian and non-riparian, were warned not to send warships across the straits,” Çavuşoğlu said.

The decision by Ankara likely means that two of Russia’s Slava-class cruisers now operating in the Mediterranean Sea can not enter the Black Sea. The vessels were working in and around the Aegean Sea last week. One operated near Italy while the other operated off the coast of Syria, near Russia’s Tartus naval base, according to USNI News.

Turkey’s move to restrict the passage to naval ships comes a day following Çavuşoğlu telling CNN Turk that CNN Turk the Russian invasion into Ukraine is considered a war.

By declaring it a war, Turkey was able to use the rules of the Montreux Convention that allowed it to restrict the passage of the straits, although the foreign minister did not cite which article allowed it to shut off access to warships.

Turkey’s move was called a “powerful, sensible, and bold” one, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Adm. James Stavridis told USNI News.

Last month, Israel365 News reported that an iconic 18th-century rabbi mentioned the Dardanelles Strait in a prophetic vision of the Messiah.

18TH CENTURY PROPHECY: RUSSIA SAILING THROUGH GALLIPOLI

The  Sanhedrin then cited a teaching from Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, an 18th-century rabbinic sage known as the Vilna Gaon, who singled out Russian aggression as a precursor to the Messiah. After being held as “a closely guarded secret” for over 200 years, Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, a great-grandson of the Vilna Gaon, shared the complete prophecy publically for the first time during the holiday of Purim in 2014. The text of the Vilna Gaon’s prophecy was reported by Rabbi Lazer Brody, an American-born Hasidic rabbi from Ashdod.

“When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard,” the Vilna Gaon told his followers just before his death in 1797.

“And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), you should put on your Shabbat clothes and don’t take them off because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute.”

The Vilna Gaon’s student,  Rav Chaim of Volozhin, added, “When the ships of the kingdom of Russia cross the Dardanelles, you should dress in Shabbat clothes because this means the arrival of the Moshiach is close.”

The Prophet Ezekiel hinted at Russia as a Gog and Magog War leader, even though Russia did not exist in Biblical times.

O mortal, turn your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him. Ezekiel 38:2

In this verse, the Hebrew word for ‘chief’ is רֹאשׁ (Rosh), which clearly hints at ‘Russia.’

“Purim is a time when secrets are revealed,” the Sanhedrin added, emphasizing that the holiday of Purim will take place this year on March 16.

The Sanhedrin called for a resolution based on the verse in Isaiah:

Thus He will judge among the nations And arbitrate for the many peoples, And they shall beat their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up Sword against nation; They shall never again know war. Isaiah 2:4

“We call for a peaceful solution to the problem, and the court on Mount Zion is ready to help as an arbitrator on the issue or in another way to reach a solution that suits both parties while keeping the interests of both sides.”

The declaration was signed by Rabbi Yoel Schwartz, Rabbi Meir Halevi, Rabbi Jonathan Hahn.

Israel365 is currently undergoing efforts to bring Jews trapped in Ukraine back to Israel. Please help by clicking on the image below.