He has spoken with Zelenskyy and Putin. What game is Erdogan playing?

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It seems that the Turkish "arbitrator" is trying to play on two chessboards at the same time, and trying to win on both. It also seems to me that only world-class grandmasters can do this. With all due respect to Erdoğan, he is not yet at this level of play: the opportunities are not the same, and these moves are being read very unambiguously by other players.

This is a game, on the one hand, to fool Putin's brains, in particular by talking about setting up some sort of gas hub. Specialists who understand these matters say that it is an absurdity. Turkey can never build a gas hub, as there is no way, no how, and no one with whom to do so, because the volumes that go through Turkey cannot be called a hub in any way. But Erdogan is selling this fable to Putin, who, by virtue of his "wisdom", eats it up and thanks him profusely.

That is, Erdogan is working to win some points for himself. We aren’t forgetting that there are elections in Turkey this year, which Erdogan is approaching with a shaky position and a lot of unknowns. For internal political consumption, he also needs some victories, successes, the illusion of something. So he chose the illusion of being a peacemaker, a mediator, fully understanding that there will be no negotiations with Putin, because he is a war criminal.

Oleksiy Danilov, the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, said that at this time, the deputy head of Putin's administration, Dmitry Kozak, is traveling, meeting with European politicians, encouraging them to participate in the signing of a Minsk 3-like peace agreement. But so what? Kozak or another representative of the Putin administration can go and talk to second- or third-rate representatives in certain countries. What of it? The leaders of these countries curtly and clearly say: no. Just look at French President Macron: he talks about negotiations, about security guarantees for the Russian Federation, and then gives Ukraine light tanks. This means that, again, for some of his goals, he can act as a peacemaker, but is actually helping Ukraine defeat the enemy.

So it's like death throes [for Russia], grasping at everything.

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On the one hand, they threaten with nuclear terror, while on the other, they run around capitals and try to [convince] people in these places that some kind of peace negotiations are needed, through these some articles written by whomever... All of this no longer works, because Putin has crossed all possible red lines, and the West understands this.

So let's not overestimate all these things. The Russians will. Undoubtedly, there will still be attempts to convince the West that Ukraine should stop at the borders that are currently controlled by the Russian army. You see, Putin also declares that they are in favor of negotiations, serious negotiations, but only with the recognition by Ukraine of new territorial realities and all their wishes. What does this say? This indicates idiocy.

Therefore, let's not take all this too seriously, but rather take it into account and oppose it with only one objective: to continue to convince our Western partners that the last obstacles to the supply of weapons must be removed and that Russia in its present form must no longer exist on the world map, because it is a threat to everyone, including Paris, Berlin, and Washington.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine