A few days ago, a bombshell news came out in the Western media: Putin is going to visit Turkey, which is Putin's first visit to a NATO country after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Subsequently, this news was confirmed by the Turkish Foreign Minister, who said that Putin's visit to Turkey this time mainly discussed energy cooperation, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the export of Russian-Ukrainian Black Sea agricultural products. But the truth is much more than that, and what Russia wants to talk about with Turkey may also be linked to NATO's future situation.
First of all, from the timing of Putin's visit to Turkey, the meeting between the two sides coincided with the initial stage of NATO military exercises. These NATO countries have exhausted and gathered 90,000 people to provoke Russia at Russia's doorstep, and at the same time, they are also showing solidarity with the surrounding small countries and feeding them a "reassuring pill". But as a result, Putin didn't take it too seriously at all, and still swaggered to announce to the outside world the news of Russia's recent visit to Turkey.
What exactly did Turkey do not hesitate to invite Putin to visit at the juncture of NATO's military exercises? You must know that Erdogan's behavior is equivalent to "stabbing in the back" all NATO countries participating in the military exercises. Even if Erdogan's usual style of acting is bizarre, he will not make a fuss about this kind of thing at will, and the only reasonable explanation is that the content that Russia wants to talk about with Turkey this time is very unusual, and it may also be related to Turkey's national security issues.
Judging by the current situation, even though Turkey's geographical location is not far from the Ukrainian battlefield and the Middle East theater, Erdogan has not drawn Turkey into either war. On the contrary, Erdogan also took advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reap a lot of benefits. For example, at a time when the contradictions between NATO countries and Russia are intensifying, the urgency for Sweden to join NATO countries has increased significantly. At this time, the United States was forced to offer an exchange of interests, with 40 F-16 fighters in exchange for Sweden's chance to join NATO.
However, if 40 F-16 fighters can be exchanged for Turkey's loyalty, then Turkey will not be called "Huskies in the country". Far from dispelling the estrangement between the two countries, the exchange of interests between the United States and Turkey has deepened the contradictions between the two countries. Because when the United States agreed to sell F-16 fighters to Turkey, it also approved the sale of F-35 fighters to Greece, which crushed Turkey to the end. The Biden administration wants to use Greece to contain Turkey's actions, and then cut off Russia's main access to the outside world through Turkey's special geographical location, which is one of the main reasons for Putin's visit to Turkey.
In addition to this, there is a strong trade base between Turkey and Russia, and both sides are at a critical juncture when there is an urgent need to develop their economies. For Turkey, the biggest economic problem in the country is inflation, and food inflation is the deadliest. If Turkey and Russia can reach cooperation on the export of agricultural products from the Black Sea, these fatal problems will be alleviated to a great extent. For Russia, while the economy is steadily rising, it is unclear how much of a challenge it will face in the future. The only thing that is certain is that Russia, through two years of continuous fighting, has a full sense of combat, and there will not be too much panic about a possible future war. This war has also made Russia thoroughly understand that the economy is the basis of a protracted war, and seeking more economic cooperation is one of Russia's main means of ensuring national security.
All in all, out of the choice of national interests, Russia and Turkey may cooperate in the economic and security fields, at least to maintain a certain tacit understanding. By visiting Turkey, Russia is pointing its finger at NATO military exercises. Turkey wants to intercept US hegemony with Russia's help, after all, Erdogan once successfully escaped because of a piece of intelligence provided by Russia, and the two sides have accumulated a certain foundation of mutual trust in this regard.