US, French Ships 'Passed Black Sea Straits', Did Not Inform of Route

USS Donald Cook (on the photo) was later joined by French intelligence warship Dupuy de Lome according to reports. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Two vessels one from the US and another from France, passed through the Dardanelles strait early on Thursday without informing of their destination.

The announcement by Turkish authorities quoted by the website of Daily Sabah adds up to earlier reports that only the destroyer USS Donald Cook passed through the Black Sea Straits.

Dupuy de Lome is reported to be French intelligence warship, according to Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet. It entered Black Sea waters about an hour after Donald Cook.

Turkey controls the Black Sea Straits under the Montreux Convention which has been in force since 1936 and has the right to give or deny passage to vessels floating to the sea.

The US destroyer is the second vessel sent by the Pentagon to show "support for the Ukrainians" and reassure NATO allies, US defense officials previously explained.

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