Russian – Turkish Deep Freeze over Downed Jet involves Freezing Crimea

November 26th, 2015

Awake Goy

nsnbc : Russia stressed that it was not seeking a conflict with Turkey but Moscow has put bilateral relations into the deep freezer. One of Moscow’s measures involves freezing about 30 Turkish investment projects in Crimea where it is cold too as Russian – Ukrainian ties have become stressed due to the cutoff of electric power from Ukraine to the peninsula.

Image: “On the 16th of March We Choose”: neo-Nazi Ukraine “Or” Russia? – Photo, courtesy of ITAR-TASS. EPA/Zurab Kurtsikidze

Following the downing of a Russian Su-24 front-line bomber in Syria by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet, Moscow stressed that Turkey’s “stab in the back” would have consequences for Russian – Turkish relations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Russia was not seeking conflict with Turkey, that Russia’s attitude toward the Turkish people had not changed, but that Moscow expected explanations from Turkey’s leadership.

Moscow’s military response was defensive including the deployment of S-300 and S-400 Air Defense Systems and warning that Russia would respond to anything that posed a threat to its air forces in Syria.

Moscow’s offensive position is economic. Moscow has among others responded by issuing a travel advisory that warns Russian citizens against travelling to or in Turkey. Stating that the terrorism threat in Turkey was similar to that in Egypt, Moscow struck the Turkish tourism industry. It does not stop there, though.

Crimean authorities have responded to the incident by suspending the implementation of about 30 Turkish investment projects worth about $500 million, said the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Crimea, Ruslan Balbek to the Russian State news agency Tass on Thursday.

The head of the newest republic of the Russian Federation said that the decision was made in accordance with the position of the Russian Federation’s President, Vladimir Putin. Balbek added that the measure would not affect Crimean residents as Asian countries were lined up for investment in Crimea.

It is, however, freezing on the peninsula, and not because Moscow has frozen Turkish investment projects. Ukrainian “activists” are preventing the repair of the sabotaged main electric power-line from Ukraine to Crimea and the powers at be in Kiiev, who otherwise have no problem deploying police and military against Ukrainian citizens seem incapable of dealing with the “activists”. On Thursday the “activists announced” that they would not allow the repair of the power line, said Ukraine’s Ukrenergo national energy company.

The head of the Russian Federations Upper House of Parliament (Federation Council), Valentina Matviyenko, warned Ukraine’s government in Kiev that Moscow would take retaliatory action if Kiev fails to restore electricity to Crimea and the City of Sevastopol – home of the Russian naval base on the peninsula.

To complicate matters further, Kiev does not officially recognize that Crimea has become part of the Russian Federation and has financial claims for the use of the naval base. Moscow, for its part, could theoretically respond by sanctioning Moscow’s gas supplies to Ukraine which is late with its payments. The measure could prompt Kiev to siphon off gas that is en route to the EU – not unprecedented.

Back to Turkey – The unstable energy security situation in Ukraine has prompted Moscow to go for the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project that would transport gas to Turkey and from there to the EU. Turkey can, of course wait it out – since it is buying oil at a bargain from the Islamic State, a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL or Daesh.

Confused? Don’t be surprised – it’s merely geopolitical brinkmanship that has gone awry in a situation where responsible heads of State would attempt to deescalate an almost Sarajevo-like situation that could spell cold winters rather than a hot shooting war between Russia, NATO and NATO’s new-found friends in Kiev.

CH/L – nsnbc 26.11.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2015/11/26/russian-turkish-deep-freeze-over-downed-jet-involves-freezing-crimea/