Russia has received no official notification from Turkey on the closure of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits to Russian warships, the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian embassy in Turkey as saying.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier Turkey had made such a move.
Turkey, which controls the straits that link the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, has not publicly announced any ban on Russian warships using them. Its foreign minister said Friday that Ankara could not bar warships returning to a home base in the Black Sea from passing through the straits.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan did tell Zelenskyy during a phone call Saturday that Ankara is making efforts for an immediate ceasefire, which preceded Zelenskyy tweeting praise for Turkey's move to "ban" passage of Russia war ships in the Black Sea.
After the call, Zelenskyy tweeted praise for Erdogan working to "ban" passage of Russia war ships in the Black Sea:
"I thank my friend Mr. President of 🇹🇷 @RTErdogan and the people of 🇹🇷 for their strong support. The ban on the passage of 🇷🇺 warships to the Black Sea and significant military and humanitarian support for 🇺🇦 are extremely important today. The people of 🇺🇦 will never forget that!"
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called for a stop to Russian military operations in Ukraine during a telephone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Cavusoglu had reiterated during the call that Ankara was ready to host the Russian and Ukrainian leaders for peace talks.
The Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying Russia is ready to work closely with all constructive forces for the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis in the interests of peace and stability.
In a statement, the Turkish president also expressed condolences for Ukrainians killed in the Russian attack.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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