The Pentagon has asked the State Department to begin the process of requesting permission from Turkey to sail vessels into the Black Sea, which borders both Ukraine and Russia and serves as the sole maritime access to the Sea of Azov, CNN reported citing three anonymous officials.
The maneuver, known in military parlance as a "freedom of navigation" exercise, would risk drastically escalating the possibility of conflict between the Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine.
Access to the sea through the Bosporus Straits is governed by the 1936 Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits, requiring governments to secure permission from Turkey 15 days before passage.
"The U.S. files Montreux Convention requests regularly but doesn't always follow through by sending a ship," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said.
