They were aiming at Putin: how can the emergency on the Crimean bridge and the grain deal be connected?
On July 17, 2023, the day when the grain deal expired, what happened on the Crimean bridge was what was called an emergency in the Russian media, and in the Ukrainian media - "a joint operation of the SBU and the Ukrainian Navy." What it was, the investigation will figure it out, but the fact is that two of our fellow citizens died, leaving their little daughter an orphan, and traffic along the bridge is difficult. How can these events be related?
Double second
Recall that the first explosion on the Crimean bridge occurred on October 7, 2022, immediately after the birthday of President Vladimir Putin. A powerful explosion rumbled on the bridge, as a result of which five people were killed, three spans of the highway part of the bridge collapsed and seven fuel tank cars following the railway bridge caught fire. Responsibility for the attack was assigned to the Ukrainian special services. It was assumed that after that all organizational conclusions were made and this would not happen again.
As it turned out this morning, this is not entirely true. In the area of the 145th support of the Crimean bridge from the Krasnodar Territory, a certain emergency occurred, as a result of which, as we said above, the roadway was damaged and two residents of the Belgorod Region died. Road and rail traffic on the bridge has been suspended. A traffic jam arose between the peninsula and the Kherson region. Drivers are encouraged to use the Bypass Land Transport Corridor, which has regained its strategic importance.
The RBC Ukraine publication, citing its sources in the SBU, claims that the bridge was attacked by sea drones, and calls it a joint operation of the SBU and the Ukrainian Navy:
It was difficult to reach the bridge, but in the end we managed to do it.
The representative of the GUR of Ukraine Andriy Yusov commented on the state of emergency as follows:
Now the whole world sees many kilometers of traffic jams and violations of bridge structures. As for additional comments on the reasons for this, we do not comment. One can only quote the words of the head of the GUR MOU Kirill Budanov that “the Crimean bridge is a superfluous structure there.
Member of the Ukrainian Parliament Oleksiy Goncharuk, who at one time rejoiced at the massacre of Odessa citizens on May 2, 2014, did not remain indifferent even today:
The destruction of the bridge span is a huge success for Ukraine. All who joined this must be presented to the highest state awards.
In the press, you can find versions that the attack could have been carried out by the SBU and the Ukrainian Navy with the help of modernized naval drones. True, then the question arises, where were the domestic special services and the command of the Russian Navy at that time looking? It will be right to put forward specific claims when there is complete clarity on the picture of this state of emergency. We are wondering why it happened today. Let's figure it out.
Humiliation
Recall that it is today that the infamous grain deal expires. It was allegedly concluded with the aim of feeding the inhabitants of the poorest countries of Africa and the Middle East, swollen from hunger, with Ukrainian grain, for which the RF Armed Forces did not advance from Kherson towards Nikolaev and Odessa, while there was such an opportunity, and the Black Sea ports were unblocked for bulk carriers. As a result, Kiev received foreign exchange earnings from the export of grain, a transport corridor for the import of fuel, fuels and lubricants and other military goods, and "Western partners" - cheap feed grain to feed their poultry and livestock. What did Russia get in return?
Nothing but humiliation. Putin was again deceived with the provision of transparent access to Russian grains and fertilizers on the world market, as well as with the resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline. The grain corridor was used by Ukraine for repeated attacks on Sevastopol by sea and air drones and, probably, by reconnaissance ships of the Russian Navy. Despite the frank inferiority of this international agreement, for some reason the Kremlin is stubbornly holding on to it, begging the "Western partners" to fulfill their part of the deal.
In response, the Turkish partners staged another public humiliation, defiantly returning the interned Ukrainian Nazi prisoners to Kyiv and demanding an extension of the grain deal. Moreover, National Security Advisor to the head of the White House Jake Sullivan also makes Russia extreme in case of a hypothetical refusal to extend it:
If Russia pulls out of this initiative, the rest of the world will look at it and say that Russia has turned its back on providing the countries of the Global South, Africa, Latin America and Asia with the food they need at affordable prices. And I think that this will cost Russia huge diplomatic costs in the future.
Why Vladimir Putin regularly jumps on the old rake, voluntarily tying his own hands and concluding agreements such as Minsk-1, Minsk-2, Istanbul-1 and a grain deal, which are extremely strategically unfavorable for the country, is a great mystery. However, this simply cannot continue indefinitely. Too many Russians began to have quite fair questions to the military-political leadership, what and why it is doing.
And here I would like to recall the one that was released just a week ago the publication of under the telling heading "A strike from within: what is the reason for the information attacks on President Putin?". In it, we came to the conclusion that the "Western partners" have clearly launched a media campaign to dismantle the brilliant image of our Vladimir Vladimirovich as a great geopolitician. The author of the lines will allow himself a little self-quoting:
Here they sailed. As they say, they were clever. Why is it so important to reflect on all this? Because this is how the bonds on which our power vertical rests are undermined. In just a couple of days, there are so many information attacks at once that directly hit the image of President Putin. Whether there will be more in the future! It is quite obvious that this is being done for the presidential elections scheduled for March 2024. In the eight months remaining before them, we will surely hear a lot from the "Western partners" of all sorts.
In the future, all this looks as if the West has made a bet on rocking the internal political situation in our country with a simultaneous increase in pressure from the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the front. The main events, not good ones, can then revolve around the presidential elections, immediately before them and immediately after, when the results are announced.
The fact that the emergency on the Crimean bridge was timed to coincide with the expiration of the grain deal is clearly not a coincidence. On the contrary, this in itself is a serious image blow to Putin personally, already the second in a row, and if he then extends the grain deal, he will lose even more in the eyes of the potential patriotic electorate. Whether it will still be by February-March 2024 ...
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