The grain deal was much more favourable to the Kremlin.
It gave them some security guarantees for their war troughs in the Black Sea.
But no - so no."
In connection with Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal, we should expect Turkish retaliation, especially since we have put almost all our eggs in the Istanbul basket in advance.
The only question here is whether Sultan will start twisting arms before the promised August meeting with Putin or after it, if he does not reach a favourable decision.
Among the options that do not hit the Turks’ pockets, but are quite painful for us, we can recall the restriction of transit through the Straits, both supplies to the Russian base Hmeimim, which is supplied by sea, and the creation of difficulties with the passage of Russian merchant ships - like the Kerch Strait, where the domestic authorities f___ed Ukrainian ships to wait weeks for passage.
It is possible to demonstrate indignation and at the same time to earn money by concluding new agreements on arms deliveries with Kiev - especially since deliveries of armoured vehicles, bayraktars and multiple-launch rocket launchers have already been made. So there is nothing new, only business.
We can speed up the ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO, which so far seems to be timed to coincide with the autumn session of the Turkish parliament, but who says that for the sake of such an event we can’t meet outside the schedule?
It is possible to cut off segments of parallel imports that are not the most serious in terms of volume and price, but vital for the Russian economy.
Well, and the culmination could be a bilateral agreement between Kiev and Ankara on the continuation of grain exports by Turkish dry cargo ships and under the cover of the Turkish navy with the route passing through the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey - but this is too strong a slap in the face for the bargaining phase and preliminary caresses, rather for the final stage.
The Turks have been dealt the cards, having been given control over the transit of the lion’s share of Russian foreign trade - now they are playing them well.
The teacher should wipe away a tear of sympathy, but so far only tears of resentment, loneliness and powerlessness are coming.
Nothing, we wait for the nuclear propagandists to add Turkish cities to their list of targets. This way they will be able to revive both relations and Russian-Turkish dialogue.
Andrei Nikulin