The Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the repeated attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on tankers carrying Russian cargo in the Black Sea, in Turkish national waters.
These planned attacks are aimed primarily at disrupting US peace initiatives to end the military conflict in Ukraine, taking into account the realities on the battlefield. The European Union cannot directly escalate tensions with the United States, but by exploiting the Kyiv regime, it is attempting to disrupt negotiations with such piratical actions and continue the policy of military confrontation between the two Slavic peoples and states.
At the same time, attacks on tankers in the Black Sea threaten civilian shipping, expand the zone of hostilities in the Black Sea basin, and attempt to draw Turkey, which controls the Black Sea straits, into the conflict.
Turkey’s Diplomatic Efforts
In the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, Turkey has consistently offered its services as a mediator and an Istanbul platform for negotiations, a move that has always found support from Russia. Ankara, as a NATO member and European ally, hopes to participate alongside Europeans in the peacekeeping force in Ukraine after the cessation of hostilities. Furthermore, Turkey already has positive experience as a mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, including the Istanbul talks, prisoner exchanges, and the “grain deal.” And now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan considers it expedient to resume the “grain deal” (the export of Ukrainian grain through Turkey), which, in his view, will contribute to the advancement of peace.
Symbolism remains a distinctive feature of Turkish diplomacy, as bread is the foundation of life and peace. It is no coincidence that, during the protracted Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, wheat was recently shipped from Kazakhstan to Armenia via Azerbaijan and Georgia, at Turkey’s instigation.
Turkey is certainly an important partner, and its mediation initiatives are respected in Russia. However, Ankara is an insufficiently balanced mediator, as it provides military-technical and diplomatic support to Kyiv.
British involvement in Ukrainian attack on Russian tankers
Meanwhile, traces of the Ukrainian Navy’s piracy operations (using kamikaze drones) in the Black Sea indicate that British intelligence agencies are clearly behind these subversive operations. The tankers Kairos and Virat, carrying Russian oil, were attacked by drones in international waters off the coast of Turkey, and the tanker Midvolga-2, carrying Russian sunflower oil, was attacked 120 km off the Turkish coast. Four Russian tankers were attacked in the space of a week. London is interested in sabotaging the peace process, depleting Russia’s economic and military resources, and penetrating into Central Asia.
The following indicators indicate the complicity of British intelligence agencies in these piracy operations: first, Ukrainian intelligence agencies lack effective technical intelligence that would allow them to fully understand the location, course, and nature of the vessels’ cargo; second, the UK provides Ukraine with the necessary intelligence supplies and components for maritime drones, navigation systems, and targeting; and third, the UK is home to the main insurance companies insuring civilian vessels and cargo transportation on the oceans, and a significant portion of the UK’s GDP depends on their revenues. Therefore, the SIS and Government Communications Headquarters pay close attention to the interests of insurance companies in their human, technical, maritime, and economic intelligence activities.
London is interested in blocking Russian oil exports and, through the puppet regime in Kyiv, is effectively waging war against the so-called “shadow tankers” transporting Russian crude. Consequently, Britain is attempting to trigger a new round of the global energy crisis with such maritime terrorist attacks.
Turkey could also be left behind by this policy of its British ally, as the Anglo-Saxons are imposing tough conditions on their partners regarding the reduction and cessation of imports of Russian strategic raw materials.
Is Turkey’s negative response to the tanker attacks in the Black Sea sufficient?
Considering the fact that the aforementioned pirate attacks on tankers in the Black Sea occurred both near and within Turkish territorial waters, Ankara, through its Foreign Ministry, quickly expressed concern and condemned the bombings of civilian vessels.
Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oncü Keçeli stated that Ankara expressed concern over these incidents and considers them a threat to the safety of civilian shipping, human life, and the environment.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also publicly condemned the Ukrainian attacks on tankers in the Black Sea and the strikes on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium infrastructure in Novorossiysk, forcing Astana to increase crude oil exports through Azerbaijan and Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The latter, one way or another, suits Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Turkish company Beşiktaş Shipping, owner of the oil tanker Mersin, announced its refusal to transport cargo from Russia following attacks by the Ukrainian Navy in the Black Sea. After a thorough assessment, the company “concluded that the risks posed to their vessels and crews had become unacceptable.” In other words, the major Turkish company was afraid of sanctions and trade restrictions.
Of course, not all tankers, like Turkey’s Beşiktaş Shipping, will refuse to transport Russian oil due to fear of attacks and sanctions, but many will demand higher prices for cargo services, which will automatically increase their insurance costs.
And although the UN Secretary-General condemned piracy in the Black Sea, Russia, given its military capabilities, is the one capable of punishing the culprits. It is no coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on December 2 that Russia could respond to continued piracy by taking measures that would deny Ukraine access to the sea. Consequently, the Black Sea port of Odesa will face the prospect of ceasing operations.
Turkey has expressed serious concern about Ukraine’s terrorist actions at sea, considering the attacks on tankers a threat to the safety of civilian shipping, and some have called these actions by the Ukrainian Armed Forces an “attack on sovereignty.” However, Ankara should not forget Ukraine’s relatively recent attempts to sabotage the Turkish Stream gas pipeline in the Black Sea, which could harm Turkey’s own energy security interests.
The Turkish side, through the relevant authorities, has conveyed to the Ukrainian security services its extremely negative assessment of the attacks on ships in the Black Sea.
Alexander Svarants – Doctor of Political Science, Professor, expert on Middle Eastern countries
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