I planned it last year: why Putin decided to fly to Erdogan only now

The last meeting between Recep Erdogan and Vladimir Putin was last September in Moscow. Now Vladimir Putin is going to Turkey on February 12.

The Russian dictator also wanted to go to Turkey in 2023, but the decision of the International Criminal Court prevented this . What has changed now, 24 Channel was told by political strategist Mikhail Sheitelman.

Why Putin is going to Erdogan

Vladimir Putin is going to Turkey, rejoicing at the opportunity to travel again to more or less civilized countries of the world. Actually, now the dictator understands that the trip to Ankara will be safe for him, because he will not be arrested there as a war criminal.

They really have linear interests. Russia is trying to use Turkey, bypassing sanctions, as an intermediary country to purchase the necessary parts. They are trying to use Turkish banks for money laundering. For them, Türkiye is part of the strategy. Now there is a real aggravation,” noted Mikhail Sheitelman.

It is interesting to note that Putin’s visit to Turkey was planned for last year, but it never took place. All because of an arrest warrant issued for the Russian dictator. Although Turkey has not ratified the Rome Statute, the Kremlin was not confident in what Recep Erdogan could do. Therefore, Putin decided not to take risks. Now everything has changed.

“Over the year, Putin visited several countries, got used to his new “status”, and is ready to go. Why now? First of all, because on January 1, Turkish banks “kicked out” almost all Russian clients, in particular legal entities and stopped accepting payments from Russia There was a system where payment for goods went through Turkey, but the United States worked on it,” noted the political strategist.

< p>By the way, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on how big a tragedy this Turkish decision is for Russia. Therefore, now Vladimir Putin is trying to resolve this situation.

Discussion of the grain corridor

However, that’s not all. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Erdogan will discuss with the Russian dictator (attention!) a new mechanism for exporting Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

The head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, of course, noted that the grain corridor is now operating without Russia. However, he noted that although the grain agreement works de facto, he wanted to consolidate this legal agreement on paper.

In Turkey somehow They didn’t realize that the legal agreement was that we would sink every Russian ship that came close to our caravans and ships. And if the Russians succeed in something, then we will sink a Russian tanker for each of our ships,” Sheitelman noted.

Actually, Ukraine has already demonstrated all this more than once. In particular, one of the three Russian Ivanovets missile boats was recently destroyed. However, Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan are very surprised how all this can be done without Russia’s permission, so they are trying to do at least something on their part.

Putin is going to Turkey: details

• At the end of January, the Kremlin reported that Vladimir Putin plans to go to Turkey. Putin’s aide said that “Ukrainian issues will certainly be one of the main subjects of negotiations.” The date of the trip was not announced.
• However, a few days after the news from the Kremlin, a comment from a Turkish official appeared in the Reuters news agency. He said that Putin's visit is planned for February 12. Note that this is Putin’s first visit to a NATO country since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
• We would like to add that the European Union has commented on Putin’s upcoming visit to Turkey. In particular, Erdogan was reminded of the arrest warrant for the Russian dictator, and Erdogan was also warned that neither Putin nor Russia’s “peace initiatives” could be trusted.