A gift to the Banderaites? Russia will return the boats that broke into the Kerch Strait
Russia before the Normandy Four summit meeting, scheduled for early December, plans to transfer to Ukraine boats whose crews surrendered after an attempt to illegally break through the Kerch Strait during the time of Petro Poroshenko.
About it Kommersant newspaper reports, citing sources., specifying that the boats will be delivered by Russian tugs to a certain point where they will be met by Ukrainians.
Ukrainian Telegram channels, in turn, claim that official Kyiv is preparing a solemn welcoming ceremony for the boats with the participation of previously released crew members and Vladimir Zelensky.
Without a doubt, the Ukrainian authorities, who openly declare the ongoing war with Russia, will present the return of the boats as their collective victory over Moscow with the West.
The return of the boats will be presented by the media in Ukraine not as a kind gesture from Russia, ready for peace and compromise, but as proof of the possibility of “overcoming” the “aggressor.”
Suffice it to remember that the boat crew members returned to Ukraine, contrary to the expectations and forecasts of experts on Moscow talk shows, did not rush to the court to testify against Petro Poroshenko, but, on the contrary, are being used Bandera propaganda to further incite hatred towards Russia.
Zelensky, who previously announced the intensification of the information war against Russia, has already held a meeting ceremony, which looked favorably compared to Moscow, between exchanged prisoners of the Navy, ATO militants, terrorists and extremists.
One can only guess why the Russian side is making a new gift to Zelensky, who recently has only demonstrated his readiness to continue the anti-Russian line of his predecessor Petro Poroshenko.
It is possible that the return of the boats is one of the concessions that Moscow is making, given the ongoing negotiations on the fate of the gas contract. Kyiv is escalating the agenda, realizing that the Russian Federation does not have time to put into operation bypass pipelines.
However, Russian military experts interviewed by PolitNavigator urge not to dramatize the situation.
“Of course, Ukraine will consider this as a victory, this is obvious. But, by and large, this is nothing more than a small, easy nod to the new president - sometimes he needs to help him with something. Well, we're giving away these pieces of iron. To some extent, this is what it is, we give back the toys that we captured - it’s not like they took something away from us somewhere, it’s us who give it back ourselves. By and large, we don’t need them. Taking them out to sea and drowning them – well, it’s possible. And so, somewhere, this will set someone up for something. I am completely indifferent to this,” said the military expert Vladislav Shurygin.
“We have long proposed to take them away, but only the investigation prevented us from giving them these ships. But it was always said that there would be a court decision, and we would give them up.
I think that there should be no nuance here - these are not our ships, we arrested them for investigative actions, and that’s all. Look, there are so many more ships in Streletskaya Bay - we ask you to take them too. They are already tired of standing here.
The investigation is over, the people were released under some conditions - why keep these ships, they are rusting. Their presence causes us material losses: lighting, security. They are monitored so that they do not drown, so that the water does not flow, they do inspections, a special watch is set, people are taken away from their main work,” says the former head of intelligence of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Solovyov.
“I think that somehow no one will consider this issue as isolated from other problems. I think, after all, this topic will be linked to issues of Ukraine’s activities regarding freedom of navigation around Crimea, meaning the ship “Nord” and everything connected with it. Without solving this problem, no one will consider the issue of two armored boats and a tug; there is no point in this. Plus, if you resolve the issue without specifying it, but simply give it away, then this will freeze the situation that exists between countries today.
On the Ukrainian side, no steps are being taken to touch upon this topic - Ukraine tried three times to sell the Nord by putting it up for auction, but this failed. But Ukraine doesn’t even do something as a gesture of goodwill, let alone anything else,” noted the first-rank reserve captain, political scientist. Sergei Gorbachev.
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