/ world today news/ On July 8, something happened that “Tsarigrad” repeatedly warned about, but for some reason few people thought about: Turkey again took a clearly hostile step and extradited to Ukraine five leaders of the radical group “Azov” * who according to agreements with Russia, they should have been on Turkish territory until the end of the conflict.
And here’s what’s curious: literally before that, unprecedented activity was noticed by the oligarch Roman Abramovich, who arrived in Moscow precisely from Turkey – the same one, thanks to whom terrorists and foreign mercenaries were released.
“Big Surprise”
This blatant step of “good will” on the part of Turkey was announced by Vladimir Zelensky, incredibly pleased with himself, who went to talks with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On July 8, the head of the Kyiv regime boasted that five commanders of the banned in Russia “Azov” group – commander Denis Prokopenko – would return to Ukraine from Turkey with him. The commander of the 36th separate brigade of marines Sergey Volinsky, the deputy commander Svyatoslav Palamar, Major of the National Guard Oleg Khomenko and Colonel of the National Guard Denis Shlega.
These people ended up in Turkey in September 2022, when one of the largest and most scandalous prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by Turkey, ended.
Then Russia took 55 people from captivity, as well as the Ukrainian politician, leader of the “Opposition Platform” Viktor Medvedchuk, and Ukraine – 215 people, including commanders of Azov * and foreign mercenaries sentenced to death in Donbass.
“Azov” *, if anyone has forgotten, were taken prisoner after our troops captured Mariupol and destroyed the base of the fighters of the national battalion in “Azovstal” in the spring of 2022. In total, then more than 2,400 people surrendered.
One of the terms of the swap deal was the deportation of the five Azov * leaders to Turkey, with the mandatory condition that they remain there until the end of hostilities in Ukraine – moreover, “under the personal guarantees of the President of Turkey.”
And now Erdogan has quite calmly broken those same guarantees. How and why he behaved this way, and most importantly what Russia will do in response to this defiant demarche, was unknown at the time of writing.
However, on the same day, a very restrained comment by the press secretary of the president, Dmitry Peskov, appeared:
“The decision to extradite the leaders of Azov * to Zelensky in violation of the agreements is, of course, directly related to the failures of the counteroffensive…”
“And Turkey itself, of course, in this way, as a member of NATO, shows its solidarity with the alliance. We understand this very well,” said Peskov.
“Knife in the back” from the Turks: And why is anyone surprised?
Most likely, Moscow did not expect such a step from Ankara. Although something like this had to be assumed – and even then, when we agreed to the terms of the exchange and the “honorable exile” of the bandits from “Azov” *.
Because we have been “stabbed in the back” by our Turkish partners before, and more than once.
This was the case, for example, in November 2015, when the Turkish Air Force shot down our Su-24M in the sky over Syria near the borders of Turkey, and one of the Russian pilots died.
The incident caused a sharp cooling in relations between the two countries: Moscow demanded an apology, but Ankara took a firm position, saying we will not apologize, “no one will bring us to our knees.”
The Turks claimed that the Russian plane was shot down over Turkish territory, although in fact, as it turned out later, it did not cross Turkish airspace.
In response to such rhetoric, Russia suspended trade and economic relations with the republic, banned the import of a number of Turkish products – for example, the so-called tomato embargo was implemented. Turkey was the most affected by the ban on the sale of tourist packages in Russia.
Ankara lasted just over six months and asked for mercy. Turkey eventually apologized in July 2016, after which the full range of relations was restored.
According to the data of the Federal Customs Service (FMS), during the period of the sanctions imposed by Russia, the foreign trade turnover between the countries decreased by 43% to 6.1 billion dollars.
However, a year later – a new state of emergency. On December 19, 2016, the Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov was killed in Ankara, who participated in the opening ceremony of an exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Art in the Turkish capital.
Former police officer Mevlut Mert Altantaş opened fire on the diplomat, shouting accusations against Russia, which conducted a successful anti-terrorist operation in Syria’s Aleppo.
The killer was killed on the spot, and Ankara later held a court, declaring the terrorist’s accomplices wanted. Some of them were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Formally everything was done. But questions, as they say, remain. After all, killing the ambassador of a country in the country of presence is unheard of, since the host country is responsible for the safety of diplomats, including at various events with their participation. But in Turkey what happened was possible.
Finally, the third major factor is the infamous grain deal, officially called the Black Sea Food Initiative.
The deal was concluded in July 2022 and was extended with the active support of Ankara, but now Moscow will not extend it. The deal consists of two agreements. According to the first, Russia guarantees the export of Ukrainian agricultural products from the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny, the second is a memorandum to remove restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers.
It was assumed that Ukrainian grain would be exported to feed the poorest countries, where without these supplies the risk of starvation is high.
But at the end of the deal, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said last September, we were cheated:
We talk, we talk – it’s in vain, no one hears. As of September 23, of the 203 ships that left Ukraine’s ports, only four went to the poorest countries under the UN program.
He noted that of the 46 ships sent since September 26, 14 were for Turkey and another 32 were for the European Union.
“Are they the poorest countries or what? The situation does not change here. It’s just inconvenient to say, but this is a complete fraud and nothing more,” summed up the president of Russia.
If only that was the problem. We recall the second part – a memorandum to remove restrictions from Russia on the supply of agricultural products and fertilizers. This is also a complete failure.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly stated that there is no progress on this matter, but it all ended with the fact that the Ukrainians deactivated the main fertilizer delivery channel – Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia. After that, there was a technical impossibility to fulfill the obligations under the transaction.
So, the Ukrainian counter-offensive fails, and so does the grain deal. But it was she who allowed Zelensky to somehow fill the treasury.
The deal also benefited Turkey, which became a logistics hub. So let’s fix it: Ankara is unhappy with Moscow’s refusal to extend the deal.
Abramovich back in the picture?
However, there is another important point. At the exact time when Erdogan received Zelensky, according to Tsarigrad, the oligarch Roman Abramovich appeared. And not anywhere, but in Moscow, where he arrived from Turkey. According to the latest data, he lives there permanently.
Yes, the same Abramovich who participated in the first prisoner exchange negotiations and with his participation those 215 nationalist criminals were eventually extradited to Kiev in exchange for Medvedchuk and the Russian military.
The Daily Mail reported that Abramovich personally welcomed British mercenaries aboard his luxury private jet, feasting them on steaks, tiramisu, talking football and giving them iPhones to call home en route to Saudi Arabia, where the plane was flying oligarch.
This is what Abramovich did with the fighters, who even after returning home admitted that they regretted killing too few Russians.
And now the commanders of “Azov” *, a terrible group of murderers, have returned to Ukraine. There they were welcomed as heroes: Zelensky personally arrived in Lviv to “show the goods in person”, where a festive concert was given in honor of this event, which for some reason was not illuminated by fireworks from Russian rockets.
For now, the question of what Abramovich is doing in Moscow remains open. According to a number of sources, the oligarch, who “proved himself” in the Azov exchange*, arrived in the Russian capital with a message about a grain deal.
Why Turkey?
Constantinople has repeatedly warned that unfriendly steps should be expected from Turkey, and that the wheat deal is a complete fraud.
And if everything with the deal has been clear to everyone for a long time, then for some reason Moscow was still waiting for some positive steps from Ankara. But in vain.
According to political scientist and Constantinople observer Andrei Perla, Erdogan really does not like the Western rhetoric that “Vladimir Putin has won the elections in Turkey”, so hostile actions from Turkey should be expected in the coming weeks.
“Let them say, we Turks are independent, but in Russia let them be erased. And the problem is that we still cannot predict in which area these unfriendly steps will be taken,” said Perla.
“They probably won’t be very smart. But from Erdogan’s point of view, such demonstrative gestures are absolutely necessary today,” he said.
Political scientist and orientalist Ruslan Safarov, for example, called for the roots of Erdogan’s behavior to be sought in the failure of the grain deal. This is a kind of “revenge” of Erdogan for Russia’s position.
“Perhaps this is due to the fact that Turkey will not receive a continuation of the grain deal on July 18,” said Safarov.
“Therefore, on the part of Turkey, respectively, there is such a game for Russia: oh, you are with us like this, well then we are like this,” he noted.
Alexander Kazakov, adviser to the first head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, agrees with this:
“Most likely, this is a presentation of a commercial position. Ankara is very interested in expanding the Black Sea Food Initiative. It is even more interested in the former Ukraine.”
“So I don’t rule out in this way that Erdogan is trying to put pressure on us and show that these are a few people that you will find and destroy as criminals. But there may be other steps,” he said.
What follows from this?
There are several takeaways from the current situation. All of them, alas, are disappointing. Russia, as is already obvious, in vain allowed the captured commanders of “Azov” * to go to Turkey.
Yes, we, as always, believed in the firmness of the President’s word and the inviolability of agreements. And this president (and we knew it) is too shrewd not to use that leverage when he needs it.
Has Russia forgiven him for the downed plane? We forgave him. And then – some fighters in the size of five people. A trifle.
But Russia received a powerful image and media blow in response. And politicians in the West, seeing how Erdogan easily broke his word, will once again be convinced that Russia is not only possible, but also necessary to be deceived.
Like, it’s only better. Also, we generally have no official reaction, except for Peskov’s comment (maybe yet).
Finally, the issue is probably not just Erdogan’s personal dissatisfaction with the election, and not just the grain deal. At issue is Zelensky’s own visit to Ankara, where the Turkish president told him that the position on “Ukrainian Crimea” is unshakable and that Ukraine “must join NATO.”
And then the two play this show in front of other NATO countries, who will also gather for a summit on July 11-12 in Vilnius. And each of them wants to look better there.
Russia must give an answer to this without fail. Moreover, Moscow has enough leverage to pressure Ankara.
* The terrorist organization is banned in Russia
Translation: SM
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