Turkish President Erdogan, in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Putin, insisted that the Russian leader not annex areas in Ukraine, “but give negotiations a chance”. Erdogan sometimes tries to successfully mediate between Ukraine and Russia. As a result, an agreement was reached for shipping that brings Ukrainian food products across the Black Sea to the world market.
Putin told Erdogan that more needs to be done to enable the export of Russian food products and fertilizers under that international agreement on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Erdogan encouraged Putin to extend the agreement soon. The current ‘grain deal’ expires at the end of November.
Putin is expected to announce Friday that the Russian federation will annex the territories conquered in southeastern Ukraine. According to him, the protracted conflicts in Ukraine are a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, which ethnic Russians in southeastern Ukraine would have become victims of as a result of discrimination and persecution by the central government in Kiev.
gas pipelines
Putin called the spectacular damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea early this week an act of international terrorism. Putin says it is “unprecedented sabotage”. Russia has asked for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to take place on Friday.
The gas pipelines were built to bring Russian gas to Germany and Nord Stream 1 operated for years before, thus being an important instrument of Russian influence in Europe and a major source of income for Moscow. The US, Ukraine and Poland, among others, have therefore strongly opposed the Nord Stream project for years.
President Biden said in February on a visit to Germany that the pipeline would come to an end if Russia invades Ukraine. He didn’t know yet how the pipeline would end, “but we can do it”. Polish MEP and ex-Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski posted on Twitter photos of the massive leaks in the pipeline and captioned it with “thank you, USA”. According to the Polish politician, the Nord Stream project is a weapon with which Russia is extorting European countries.