The leaked paper seems to point out the lengths the Russian non-public navy group Wagner has gone to attempt to additional strengthen its capabilities because the warfare in Ukraine – during which it’s taking part in a key function – continues on with no indicators of abating.
As a NATO member, Turkey is broadly thought of a accomplice nation to the US and different nations offering direct navy help to Ukraine and it has publicly expressed opposition to Russia’s invasion.
It can be residence to a serious US navy base the place nuclear weapons are saved and act as an apparent warning signal to discourage Russian aggression towards NATO members.
According to the US alerts intelligence reporting cited within the doc, personnel from the Wagner Group met with “Turkish contacts” in early February with the intent “to purchase weapons and equipment from Turkey” that might then be utilized by Wagner mercenaries who’re preventing alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
It is unclear who these “contacts” have been or if the Turkish authorities was conscious of the conferences. There isn’t any proof that exhibits that Turkey has moved ahead with any arms gross sales to the Wagner Group.
Still, the potential of a NATO ally promoting weapons to Russian mercenary forces would probably elevate severe issues in Washington and complicate Ankara’s relationship with different NATO members.
The particulars in regards to the February assembly, which have been outlined in a piece of the leaked doc titled, “Mali, Russia, Turkey: Wagner seeks weapons from Ankara,” recommend US officers imagine the Russian mercenary outfit has a minimum of examined the waters.
According to the leaked doc, Wagner additionally deliberate to make use of the weapons and gear from Turkey in Mali, the place the group maintains a major presence.
Not solely does the doc reference intelligence about Wagner in search of to buy weapons from Turkey, it additionally states that the paramilitary group deliberate to renew recruitment of prisoners from Russia’s jails.
CNN has not independently confirmed the veracity of the doc, however US officers have indicated that a lot of the leaked tranche are genuine.
A State Department spokesperson mentioned the “the Department of Defence and the intelligence community are actively reviewing and assessing the validity” of the leaked paperwork, including “we are not in a position to confirm or comment on any specific information they contain.”
CNN has reached out to the US National Security Council, the workplace of the Turkish president and Turkey’s Embassy in Washington for touch upon the doc.
Turkey’s distinctive relationship with Russia
US officers have lengthy grappled with the difficult actuality of Turkey’s distinctive relationship with Moscow in contrast with that of different NATO members regardless of all being a part of the identical alliance designed to guard bordering nations from the potential menace of Russian growth.
The Turkish authorities has expressed its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, not like many NATO allies, it has maintained shut ties to the federal government in Moscow.
At occasions, the Turkish authorities has used these ties to push the Russian authorities to finish the warfare, together with final week, when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavasoglu met along with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Ankara.
The Turkish authorities served as one of many brokers of a deal to permit Ukrainian grain to transit safely by the Black Sea with out Russian menace.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has beforehand positioned himself as a dealer within the Russia-Ukraine battle. In January, Erdogan held separate calls with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He advised Zelenskyy that Turkey was able to undertake a mediator and facilitator function for lasting peace between the nations and that it may facilitate diplomatic efforts relating to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant, a Turkish authorities readout of the decision mentioned.
In his name with Putin, Erdogan advised him that requires peace and negotiations must be supported by a unilateral declaration of ceasefire and a imaginative and prescient of “a fair solution.”
Putin, nonetheless, advised Erdogan that Moscow is open to “serious dialogue,” however Kyiv should settle for the “new territorial realities,” based on a Kremlin assertion.
Representatives from the Wagner Group seem to have met with their Turkish contacts only one month after Erdogan’s calls with Putin and Zelenskyy occurred, based on the leaked Pentagon doc.
CIA Director Bill Burns mentioned on Tuesday that his intelligence company assesses that Putin is “not serious about negotiations at this stage” of the warfare in Ukraine and it’s “Ukrainian progress on the battlefield that is most likely to shape prospects for diplomacy” to finish the continuing battle.
Speaking publicly for the primary time since leaked labeled US navy paperwork appeared on-line – together with assessments that solid a pessimistic viewpoint in regards to the state of the warfare and predict a stalemate for the foreseeable future – Burns harassed the significance Ukraine’s deliberate offensive, saying “a great deal is at stake in the coming months.”
Another doc obtained by CNN cites alerts intelligence that Turkish corporations have been aiding in sanctions evasion for one more key Putin ally: Belarus.
‘Pro-Russian’ monks resist eviction order
The US has sought to crack down on such efforts to evade sanctions, even by corporations based mostly in US-allied nations. On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions of two Turkish corporations which it mentioned are supporting Russia’s navy industrial advanced in defiance of current sanctions.
Source: www.9news.com.au
