Russia, Turkey seek greater engagement amid US sanctions
Russia plans to lift visa requirements for some Turks and to begin delivery of the S-400 missile-defense system to Turkey next year in an attempt to further sway Ankara away from the United States.
As tensions between Washington and Ankara continue to grow, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised “to start looking for new friends and allies.” Among the possible candidates that Turkey’s president sees is Moscow. On Aug. 10, the same day US President Donald Trump introduced new higher tariffs on imports from Turkey, Erdogan called Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders discussed economic and trade ties.
On Aug. 14, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Turkey. At a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Lavrov said the United States is abandoning diplomacy in favor of “sanctions and blackmail.”
“Sanctions, threats, blackmail, and diktat are being used. In these conditions, it even feels that some of our Western partners have lost the culture of diplomacy,” Lavrov said. His words were warmly welcomed in Turkey.
Since the collapse of Soviet Union, Russia has promoted the idea of a multipolar world without the dominance of any single power state. The idea is well-received by many countries, including Turkey, which has been backing UN Security Council reform for many years. At the moment, Turkey and Russia are facing similar economic problems, as both are suffering from US sanctions. Moreover, the so-called “anti-Americanism” among ordinary people and state-controlled media seems to be at its highest level both in Russia and Turkey.
