Turkey, we explained, could move to close the Bosphorus Strait, cutting one of Moscow's key supply lines to Latakia. 

We went on to explain, that such a move would probably be illegal based on the 1936 Montreux Convention, but as Sputnik noted, "in times of war, the passage of warships shall be left entirely to the discretion of the Turkish government."

Obviously, Turkey and Russia haven't formally declared war on one another, but the plane "incident" marked the first time a NATO member has engaged a Russian or Soviet aircraft in more than six decades and given the gravity of that escalation, one would hardly put it past Erdogan to start interfering with Moscow's warships, especially if it means delaying their arrival in Syria where the Russians are on the verge of restoring an Assad government that's Turkey despises.