Russia seizes ship off Turkish coast

Staff of the Joint Operations Center walk past the Mehmet Bey ship as it waits to pass through the Bosphorus Strait off Yenikapi on October 31, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas.

On Sunday, several armed Russian marines surrounded a Turkish ship, about 60km off Türkiye's northwestern coast, in international waters but still quite close to Istanbul, under the pretext of an inspection, before allowing it to continue to Ukraine.

The government of Turkey, the member state with the second largest military force in NATO, has not commented on the incident.

Analysts say the incident will challenge Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's view of maintaining good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Erdogan invited to visit Türkiye this month to discuss Russia's possible re-entry into a U.N.-brokered grain export protection deal.

“These acts of aggression carried out so close to Istanbul show a lack of control and a lack of respect for Turkey’s common rights,” said Yoruk Isik, a geopolitical analyst at the Bosphorus Observer consultancy in Istanbul.

“Ankara’s silence is strange, but it shows that they are still expecting Putin to visit and consider re-entering the grain export protection agreement.”

Since Russia withdrew from a grain export protection agreement last month, both Russia and Ukraine have warned of possible attacks on ships off their coasts, raising concerns that commercial shipping could be disrupted across the sea.

Although Ukraine and Western countries have suggested some alternative sea routes for Ukrainian cargo exports, Türkiye, as a pro-Kyiv country, has opposed these suggestions for security reasons. It wants Western countries to accept some of Russia's demands, and wants Russia to withdraw some of them, in order to reactivate Ukrainian grain exports under the supervision of the United Nations and Türkiye.

Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said on Wednesday that they have contacted and asked the parties to return to the negotiating table, but this request will be difficult to implement because of recent sabotage activities on grain infrastructure.

Sensitive balance

The Black Sea and the Turkish Straits are the main sea routes that Ukraine and Russia - the world's two leading agricultural producers - use to bring their exports to world markets.

Since the collapse of a grain export protection deal, soaring international commodity prices have prompted the United Nations to warn of global hunger, and the Russian and Ukrainian governments have both said they will treat ships arriving at enemy ports as potential military vessels.

Aydin Sezer, a former Turkish diplomat and now a policy analyst in Ankara, said Russia's search of the Palau-flagged Sukru Okran was technically carried out in a war zone, as both Moscow and Kyiv had issued warnings about ships moving in the area.

He said that since Türkiye has sent drones and other weapons to Ukraine while claiming to maintain neutrality, “it will be difficult for Türkiye to have a say in this issue.”

Türkiye has been prepared to facilitate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Its government opposes Russia’s actions but also Western sanctions against Moscow, and has increased economic cooperation with Russia throughout the war.

A Turkish defense ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ankara was investigating the incident in the Black Sea but did not provide further details. The ship had entered Romanian waters, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The Russian government has not commented on the possibility of Mr Putin visiting the countries, but Türkiye has repeatedly sent requests, most notably in an appeal to world leaders issued on August 2.

The Russian government said it would rejoin a grain export protection deal if Western countries fulfilled their obligations to ensure it could export their grain and fertilizers smoothly, including on payment and logistics aspects.

The two main requests, Mr. Sezer said, included allowing a Russian bank to participate in the SWIFT global payment system and allowing them to import agricultural-related goods.

“Therefore, Mr. Erdogan should negotiate and convince Western countries to re-establish the protectionist agreement, not Mr. Putin,” Mr. Sezer said.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/nga-vay-bat-tau-o-ngoai-khoi-bo-bien-tho-nhi-ky-a622223.html