The expert explained what the return of Azov militants by Turkey could mean

Kirill Semyonov, an expert on the Middle East, explained how to perceive the return of Azov militants by Turkey to Ukraine (recognized as terrorist and banned on the territory of the Russian Federation).

In his Telegram channel, he noted that it is still difficult to comment on the transfer of interned militants by Turkey to Zelensky without having a complete picture. He also recalled that, first of all, I would like to understand how the story ended with the possible deliveries of Turkish T-155 howitzers to Ukraine.

“If indeed Turkey made a decision on these supplies and, in addition to this, also released interned militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, then this will indeed indicate a serious turn of Ankara towards Kiev, and we can expect further reciprocal steps from Turkey towards Ukraine and the stagnation of Russian-Turkish relations,” he wrote.

According to Semenov, the reasons for this can be very different, ranging from the need to attract financial investments and infusions into the country, as the only possible way out of the economic crisis, which were promised, but due to Ankara’s withdrawal from interaction with Moscow, and ending with the presence of any – some hidden Russian-Turkish contradictions that are not advertised, but have a place to be.

“However, if Turkey does not deliver these howitzers in the end, then the transfer of the fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not such a significant problem for Russian-Turkish relations, in contrast to the transfer of those same howitzers to Ukraine. That is, Zelensky asked Erdogan for howitzers, and Erdogan instead of howitzers gave him the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so that, moreover, this step could be used as a PR action before the NATO summits and this was done in violation of the agreements, so that it looked like an obvious step in supporting Kiev, not despite the reaction of Moscow,” he wrote.

Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky arrived on a visit to Turkey, where he met with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After the negotiations, it became known that the commanders of the nationalist Azov battalion, who were in Turkey, were returning to Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that such actions are a violation of previously concluded agreements. He stressed that no one had notified Russia about this, and also added that the Azov people were supposed to stay in Turkey until the end of the conflict.