Putin Does Not Dare To Respond To Erdogan

The Kremlin said it would maintain "partnership relations" with Turkey after the return of Azov commanders to Ukraine.

Russian authorities do not plan to retaliate against Turkey, which, in violation of agreements, handed over the Azov battalion commanders to Kyiv, started building a Bayraktar drone factory on Ukrainian territory and supported Ukraine's NATO membership.

Moscow continues to consider Turkey a "partner" and does not intend to abandon joint projects such as the gas hub, which has been under discussion since last autumn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing on Monday.

He said the situation with the Azov members, who returned home after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Turkey, "has nothing to do" with the gas hub topic. "We intend to continue our relations with the Republic of Turkey," Peskov said, adding Moscow expects "clarifications" from Ankara and will "take them into account."

As for the construction of a Turkish drone factory in Ukraine, the start of which Kyiv announced on Monday, the Kremlin does not see this as a problem, according to Peskov's statements. "Turkey has the right to develop relations with any country, including Ukraine. As Turkey's partners, we want to hope that the development of these relations will not be directed against us," the presidential spokesman said (he was quoted by Interfax).

On Saturday, July 8, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the return home of the commanders of the Azov battalion, who spent three months defending Mariupol, and after surrendering were handed over to Turkey, where, according to the terms of the agreement, they were to stay until the end of hostilities. The transfer of the Azov soldiers, which took place publicly and with military honours, was a violation of the agreements reached last autumn, with "no one informing Russia", Peskov complained on Saturday.

Ukraine's ambassador to Istanbul, Vasyl Bodnar, explained on Monday that negotiations on the release of the commanders had been underway for several months, and that Turkey had agreed to extradite them without any conditions. Erdogan himself did not comment on the deal with Ukraine, which Russian officials and state propagandists regarded as a new "stab in the back." At a briefing before his departure for the NATO summit in Vilnius, however, he said that Turkey supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and is in favour of a just and lasting peace in the country, The Moscow times reported.

At the end of last week, it was reported that Turkey was starting to supply Kyiv with T-155 Firtina tracked self-propelled artillery units (SAU) with a range of up to 40 kilometres, and on Monday, Ukraine's Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshyn announced the start of construction of a Bayraktar drone factory in the country.

"This is exactly the large Bayraktar plant that was agreed upon a few years ago, then there were stoppages, scandals. Today this plant is being built, we have moved on to real steps," he explained.