U.S. – Russia tensions continue
Although Russia’s economy did not experience any major incidents last week, Russia’s media is still busy discussing developments in U.S –Russia relations.
Echoes from the first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin still continue as statements from both sides indicate that relations between the two superpowers are far from normal.
The final issue on the table is the situation around the 35 Russian diplomats expelled in December last year as well as the U.S. government’s seizure of diplomatic compounds.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Friday that the U.S. administration not only refused to give back the diplomatic compounds in the U.S. to Russia but that they are also rejecting to issue visas to the Russian diplomats who are to replace those who were expelled.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that Russia’s patience was running out and that they were ready to take reciprocal action against the U.S. in Russia.
Russia–Turkey step up cooperation
Two important statements were made last week with regard to increasing cooperation between Russia and Turkey.
An unnamed Turkish official who spoke to Bloomberg made the first statement and said that the agreement with Russia on S-400 missile defense systems was complete. He said that two of these systems would be directly purchased and that two more would be produced in Turkey together with Russia.
The official also stated that Turkey would pay $2.5 billion for all four systems.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ambassador to Russia, Huseyin Dirioz, in response to Anadolu Agency’s questions said that negotiations were still taking place regarding the S-400 systems and said the purchase of the Russian systems would not in any way harm Turkey’s NATO membership.
The second important statement came from Rostec’s Director for Special Assignments, Vasiliy Brovko, who stated that they were planning to enter the Middle East markets with Turkish companies, in the sphere of IT technologies.
These statements show that both countries are keen to rapidly recover from souring relations arising from the Russia-Turkey jet crisis last year.
