Ottoman plans to close the Black Sea at the beginning of the XVIII century

The purpose of the study is to consider the importance of the East Azov Sea and the Strait of Kerch in the relations between the Russian state and the Ottoman Empire in the late XVII - early XVIII centuries as a special direction in the foreign policy. It gained relevance after the successful capture of Azov by Russian troops and Cossacks. The Russian state attempted not only to seize these lands, but also to open navigation in the Black Sea. This problem could be solved by the transfer of the Kerch fortress to Russia or the conclusion of a trade agreement with the Ottoman Empire, which gave the right to free navigation through the Kerch Strait. The unwillingness to allow foreign vessels into the Black Sea and serious concerns about the safety of the state’s capital led to the plans of Porta to close the Kerch Strait completely. The article chronologically traces the emergence of such ideas at the court of the Ottoman Sultan and attempts to implement them in the context of Russian-Ottoman relations and the real abilities of Porta. The scientific novelty of the article lies in determining the methods available to the Ottomans for the implementation of the plan to close the Kerch Strait from foreign powers, in chronological ordering of existing documents and materials, which reveal the essence of the research problem. The author concludes that the lack of financial resources and the timely actions of the Russian ambassadors at the court of the Ottoman sultan did not allow the implementation of a grand project to turn the Sea of Azov into a closed or half-closed reservoir. The normalization of Russian-Ottoman relations and attempts to penetrate the Black Sea peacefully solved the problem of unilateral closure of the strait.