Erdogan and London are blackmailing Putin over grain and Nagorno-Karabakh issues: Kiril Frolov

Today, a meeting between the leaders of Russia and Turkey is set to take place in Sochi. Recep Tayyip Erdogan may propose to Vladimir Putin to halt Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in exchange for certain concessions from Ankara and other NATO members. This was stated by Kiril Frolov, an expert from the Institute of CIS Countries, to PolitNavigator.

“It is possible that there is an attempt to manipulate Vladimir Putin; this concerns the notorious 'grain deal' (representatives of Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the UN signed an agreement on July 22 in Istanbul to create a grain corridor for the export of agricultural products from Ukraine across the Black Sea). It has nothing to do with grain or the imaginary threat of global famine, but was developed and signed solely for one purpose: to force Russia to abandon the 'liberation' of Mykolaiv and Odesa. This was stated by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who recently returned from Moscow. According to him, Moscow is willing to take steps towards a ceasefire through the 'grain deal' in order to restart 'Nord Stream 2' and restore relations with 'Old Europe'. Schröder's statements have caused a storm of reactions… The situation has become so tense that the Russian Foreign Ministry had to deny Schröder's claims, stating that there would be no return to the relations with the West that existed before February 23. Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov also stated that a peaceful settlement is only possible under certain conditions,” the expert notes.

According to him, while it seemed that everything had calmed down, the situation escalated again with the flare-up in Nagorno-Karabakh and Peskov's new announcement that the talks between Putin and Erdogan in Sochi would discuss Ukraine and the ‘grain deal’.

“In an attempt to raise the stakes in the matter of forcing Russia to expand the 'grain deal', Erdogan, with the support of his Azerbaijani proxies, has again launched an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, thus opening a 'second front' against Russia. Apparently, they wish to force Putin to expand the 'grain deal' to include the ports of Mykolaiv to complicate the Russian army's efforts to liberate it. Erdogan and the London that stands behind him are blackmailing Putin: either they expand the 'grain deal' and abandon the liberation of Mykolaiv and Odesa, or Turkey further intensifies the Nagorno-Karabakh war while Pashinyan incites anti-Russian hysteria in Armenia.

Erdogan believes that Putin is in a difficult position and will do everything possible to prevent Turkey from joining anti-Russian sanctions,” Frolov stated.