During World War I, the Imperial Russian Army planned to conduct the "Bosphorus Operation." The idea of landing at the Straits became relevant due to the Great War of 1914-1918. Turkey's entry into the conflict forced Russia to consider capturing the Bosphorus. The Anglo-French Dardanelles operation, which began in March 1915, showed that the allies were not willing to grant Russia access to the Straits, despite all promises. Emperor Nicholas II ordered preparations for the Bosphorus operation, initially planned for the fall of 1916. However, at that time, the armies of Romania, which had joined the war on the side of the Entente, were defeated by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. As a result, there was an urgent need to rescue the new allies, and there were not enough resources for a landing in Constantinople.

The operation was postponed to the spring of 1917, when a large-scale offensive of the entire Russian army was planned. But instead, the February Revolution occurred, leading to the collapse of historical Russia and its geopolitical plans.

As early as 1915, an Anglo-French-Russian agreement was concluded for the transfer of Constantinople and the Black Sea Straits to Russia. This agreement was formalized through an exchange of notes between Russian Foreign Minister S.D. Sazonov and the British and French ambassadors in Petrograd. In 1916, the Anglo-French Sykes-Picot agreement on the division of the Ottoman Empire's Asian possessions followed, to which Russia joined. It confirmed the terms of the previous agreement regarding the Black Sea Straits.

Both treaties were annulled by the Soviet Decree on Peace, adopted in October 1917. The new government published secret diplomatic documents, finally shattering the dreams of old Russia.