With our correspondent in Moscow, Anissa El Jabri
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was unlikely to be re-elected and appeared to be turning his back on him, despite receiving warm support from Vladimir Putin during his election campaign. In particular at the NATO summit in Vilnius at the beginning of July with the clear “yes” to Sweden’s accession and shortly before this fundamental green light with the announcement of the repatriation of several commanders of the Azov Regiment.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was unlikely to be re-elected and appeared to be turning his back on him, despite receiving warm support from Vladimir Putin during his election campaign. In particular at the NATO summit in Vilnius at the beginning of July with the clear “yes” to Sweden’s accession and shortly before this fundamental green light with the announcement of the repatriation of several commanders of the Azov Regiment to Ukraine. This gesture aroused the anger of Russia: the Kremlin spokesman denounced “a direct violation of the terms of the contract.” These fighters, demonized by Russian propaganda, should remain on Turkish soil until the end of the conflict.
In recent weeks, Turkey has increased its calming measures. The Turkish press repeatedly mentioned Vladimir Putin’s visit to Turkey; ultimately the opposite occurs.
The new head of Turkish diplomacy arrived last week to lay the groundwork in Moscow with a meeting with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov and then with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Therefore, the list of Russian demands for a return to the grain agreement is public and extremely long.
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