The Russia-Ukraine crisis continues to affect regional balances as well as global politics. While Russia was trying to carry out a transparent process with Turkey before, when the Ukraine issue arises, it aims to manage relations with back-door diplomacy. It focuses on the half-full glass, ignoring the sometimes opposing steps of Turkey, which is a NATO member on the one hand and can negotiate with Ukraine on the other.
The meeting between President Erdogan and Russian President Putin in Sochi on August 5, further demonstrated Russia's approach. In the joint statement made after the summit, there were some key words trying to keep Turkey close to itself. Pointing out "the key importance of sincere, frank and trust-based relations in terms of establishing regional and international stability" in the statement can be described as an effort by Russia, which is subject to sanctions, to open up space for itself through Turkey.
Besides, it seems that Russia has given the green light to an operation in a way that will not disturb Iran's position in Syria much, but at the same time partially satisfies Turkey. At this point, it is necessary to pay particular attention to the statement that "the determination to act in solidarity and coordination in the fight against all terrorist organizations in Syria has been confirmed".
Against Turkey's objection to the PYD/YPG presence in Tal Rifat and Manbij, Russia seems to have specifically wanted to use a language to include the organizations there without mentioning Idlib. In addition, it should be noted that President Erdoğan cited the talks between the intelligence services as an example to Putin's call for Turkey and Syria to carry out a joint operation and to fight together with terrorist organizations.
On the other hand, Turkey's decision to make some payments for natural gas purchased from Russia in Rubles is a decision that may have a completely superficial psychological effect. It is not possible for this to be of any use to Turkey, at least for now. The trade volume between the two countries is too far ahead to be closed in favor of Russia. Turkey imports about 30 billion dollars from Russia, but it exports an average of 5 billion dollars.
In this case, it is useless to expect that paying in rubles will have an effect on Turkey's need for foreign currency or have a noticeable effect on the foreign trade deficit. However, such initiatives will definitely have an effect to trigger the search for alternatives against the dollar, which is the reserve currency.
Regarding the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, Turkey is experiencing the incomprehensible consequences of processes that do not work transparently. It is very difficult to understand how Russia, as the contractor of a project belonging to Turkey, can take such a high-profile attitude. Why can't Turkey say "wait a minute, what's going on, I'm the employer here" against Russia's decisions to exclude Turkey? All the details of an important project like Akkuyu should be shared in a way that will put the public at ease.
These are some of the key words that came out of the Sochi summit. Issues such as Libya and the Grain Agreement were also reflected in the final declaration of the summit. After this summit, it is necessary to carefully follow Russia's attempts to show Turkey a stick under the hood against Russia's attempts to break financial sanctions through Turkey, which is evident that some newspapers in the West wrote on order. It is Turkey's right to trade with Russia until the end, but necessary measures must be taken to prevent a second Halkbank case.