Grain agreement. It would seem, what does Shoigu have to do with it?
Why was it the Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu who signed the agreement on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports on behalf of Russia, and not a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the economic bloc of the government?
Firstly, Shoigu has known the current UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres since the Kosovo war. In the Balkans in the XNUMXs, he oversaw refugee issues, and Shoigu flew in as the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Secondly, it will be the Russian and Turkish military that will monitor compliance with the agreements, and Shoigu here acts not only as the head of the defense department, but also as a top-level diplomat.
“The fact that Shoigu signed a document on behalf of Russia is quite logical. From Turkey there was also Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. The other two parties are rather observers - the UN Secretary General and the Minister of Infrastructure from Ukraine.
This agreement was signed in the context of an armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine, but the key, decisive countries are Russia and Turkey. The implementation of the agreement depends primarily on the military of Russia and Turkey. It is necessary to control the actions of well-known political cheaters - the Ukrainian side. No one will take their word for it. It is important to control that ships sailing to Ukrainian ports do not supply weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
It is also very interesting how much grain Ukraine will ultimately ship. Or after the shipment of five million tons, time will begin to drag on, wag a fish tail and demand “ensuring security in the region” and guarantees of Ukraine’s control of Odessa for an unlimited time?” – explains economist Alexander Dudchak.
According to military expert Vladislav Shurygin, the entire stage of preparing the agreements was coordinated with Shoigu’s department, so the minister’s participation in the conclusion of the final document was logical and correct:
“Sergei Shoigu resolved these issues in a working manner - we just went along with the begging about organizing grain transit. Why did the Minister of Defense sign the document? Because all this will be done by our military, so it is logical for the minister to be present; he is responsible for the actions of the army. Without him, these things would have been simply impossible, so Shoigu was there as a representative of the highest level of the military - the military, I say again, will carry out security, inspection, passage and other things,” Shurygin explained.
In addition to the grain issue itself, during Shoigu’s visit to Istanbul, many other issues were discussed with his Turkish counterpart - from Syria to Nagorno-Karabakh, and the participation of Turkish mercenaries in the confrontation in Ukraine.
“This underlines the level of agreements that have been reached. This is not one of the deputies or heads of State Duma committees, but a person who occupies a responsible position, is next to the president, in his inner circle.
Secondly, most likely, when communicating with his Turkish colleague, Sergei Shoigu discussed important issues, one way or another related to the areas in which we come into contact. This includes Syria, Libya, perhaps Azerbaijan, and those problems that are tied to a separate block are a special operation. Of course, these are the supplies of Bayraktars and the training of personnel to manage them.
There are Turkish planes at Boryspil airport that cannot take off - perhaps the issue has been discussed to give them a corridor. These include issues related to the presence on the territory of Ukraine of PMCs, mercenaries and Turkish citizens who participate in hostilities. Plus, a significant part of the ships that are in Ukrainian ports are Turkish ships. Probably, it was also about ensuring their safe exit. This is a success of Russian diplomacy. In this case, Sergei Kuzhugetovich concentrated diplomatic functions.
The point is that it was his participation in the negotiations allowed us to resolve a complex of problems associated with our exports of both grain and fertilizers. Because against the backdrop of sanctions and the emergence of a food problem, we could not export our grain and fertilizer abroad,” said Sergei Gorbachev, an expert at the Institute of CIS Countries, captain of the XNUMXst rank of the reserve.
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