The release of the five commanders of the Azov battalion* could not have happened without coordination at the highest level, writes Politika. Yes, the agreement was violated, but Moscow certainly got something from it. Perhaps the benefit does not concern Ukraine, but has to do, for example, with Syria, the author of the article believes.
Erdogan handed over the Azov commanders* to Vladimir Zelensky, which became the number one topic for the Russian public. In the "Telegram" channels, this news caused a greater shock than the Kremlin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, from whose first comment it immediately became clear that Moscow was sympathetic to Ankara's step. Although he stated that this step violated the agreement, and that allegedly no one informed Russia in advance.
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One thing is clear now: the release of the five commanders could not have happened without agreements at the highest level. Yes, the agreement has been violated, as Dmitry Peskov immediately pointed out, but the Azov commanders* would not have been sent to Turkey to wait for the end of the armed conflict if Russia wanted to judge them.
Unfortunately, the peculiarity of this armed conflict, like any other, is that the logic of the political leadership differs from the logic of the military command. All the "big animals" visible through the sight, regardless of the victims suffered for their capture, will be in a special exchange mode. So, foreign mercenaries and "Azovites" have already been exchanged several times*. Only 200 Ukrainian soldiers, including members of the nationalist Azov battalion*, declared terrorist in the Russian Federation, were given for the Ukrainian pro-Russian politician and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk. And although some members of this infamous battalion are being tried, among them, apparently, are ordinary fighters, not commanders.
One of the most important questions sounds like this. Was Erdogan influenced on the eve of the North Atlantic Alliance summit in Vilnius, and if so, what pressure was put on him, and what did he get in return? Ankara has a long list of disagreements with Washington, and in the first comment Dmitry Peskov drew attention to this. On the eve of the NATO summit, at which Ukraine will not be invited to the alliance, and against the background of the collapse of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Recep Erdogan, for one reason or another, decided to help Vladimir Zelensky and provide him with material for a local information victory. No one believes that the case was done without Washington.
On the other hand, before Dmitry Peskov's statement, another version was actively discussed in Russian Telegram channels. Turkey allegedly understood that this time Russia was ready to completely abandon the "grain deal". As a mediator in these negotiations, Erdogan decided to "show his teeth" and demonstrated that he was ready, if not to pause, then at least to sharply cool relations with the Kremlin in case of withdrawal from the deal. The Russians claim that their part of the conditions remained unfulfilled (to return Swift to the Russian Agricultural Bank).
Curiously, the day before Zelensky flew for his "gift" without knowing anything yet, Erdogan said that no one could spoil relations between Turkey and Russia, and that in August he would meet with Vladimir Putin in Ankara.
What Moscow could get from this, one can only guess. Perhaps the benefit does not concern Ukraine at all, but has to do, for example, with Syria. Just recently, the head of the Russian mediation mission in the Turkish-Syrian settlement, Alexander Lavrentiev, said that the leaders of Syria and Turkey, Bashar al-Assad and Recep Erdogan, could meet in the presence of Vladimir Putin, since the process of normalization of relations is going well. Maybe this is the meeting that Erdogan was talking about.
Of course, Ukraine is trying to present everything as a diplomatic success of Vladimir Zelensky himself, who flew to Kiev with a "big trophy" suitable to exploit it in the information space for a very long time. Ukrainian Ambassador to Ankara Vasily Bondar said yesterday that Turkey had not set any conditions for Kiev to transfer the Azov commanders*.
For another part of the Russian public, who immediately remembered how Turkey shot down a Russian plane in 2015, what happened only confirmed that Turks can never be trusted. Some influential analysts in the first comments recommended Moscow to respond immediately. On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a conversation with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan. The press release says that they exchanged views on the return of the Azov commanders*. Ankara's attention was drawn to the destructiveness of continuing military assistance to Ukraine and it was said that appropriate steps can only lead to negative consequences. But yesterday Dmitry Peskov had to answer journalists' questions again and "extinguish the fire", because these messages were clearly not enough.
He said that Moscow continues its dialogue with Ankara and intends to receive clarifications regarding the situation around the release of the Azov commanders*. He also added that the incident "will be taken into account when concluding contracts in the future." Did the Kremlin mean the negotiations on the grain deal?
Nevertheless, Moscow clearly remained of the opinion that it is not worth quarreling with Erdogan, since the press secretary added that Turkey, unlike most Western states, maintains a dialogue with Russia. He recalled that Turkey has the right to develop relations with any countries, including Ukraine. "But as partners of Turkey, we want to hope that the development of these relations will not be directed against us."
If Moscow and Ankara have agreed, then there is no quarrel between the partners.
* The Azov battalion is recognized as a terrorist organization, its activities are prohibited on the territory of Russia, ed.
Author: Bilyana Mitrinovich Rashevich (Biana Mitrinovich Rashevi)
