We beat, we beat and we will beat

"Spit in the face."

That is how the American Forbes and the representative of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleg Nikolenko called the article dedicated to the “calibration” of the Odessa port on July 23.

In their opinion, the strike on the port directly contradicted the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain, which Sergei Shoigu signed in Turkey on July 22, and according to which Russia actually assumed obligations not to interfere with this export, including not to strike at that part of the port infrastructure, where grain will be loaded onto ships.

“The strike on a target of key importance for grain exports, a day after the signing of the Istanbul Accords ... once again demonstrates Russia's complete disregard for international law and its obligations,” said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, whose keen eye has not been notices the daily shelling of civilian infrastructure in Donetsk by Ukrainian artillery.

The attack on the port “proves one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find a way not to do it,” echoed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a great master of non-fulfillment of his obligations, in particular under the Minsk agreements.

“The Kremlin continues to use food as a weapon,” US Ambassador to Kyiv Bridget Brink notes on the same field.

The Russian side acknowledges the fact of a strike on the port infrastructure, but not on the one that has anything to do with grain exports.

“In the seaport of the city of Odessa, on the territory of a shipyard, sea-based high-precision long-range missiles destroyed a Ukrainian warship (boat. - 

) in the dock and a warehouse of Harpoon anti-ship missiles supplied by the United States to the Kiev regime,” said the official representative of the Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov.

In addition, the production facilities of the enterprise for the repair and modernization of the naval personnel of the Naval Forces of Ukraine were put out of action.

All these military installations are legitimate targets within the framework of the Russian special military operation, and Moscow had every right to strike at them.

Moreover, the Russian army even had to strike this blow, and right after the conclusion of the deal, in order to remove various additional questions and dispel the fantasies that had arisen.

The fact is that various rumors and expectations began to arise around the agreement signed in Turkey.

A number of Western media began to interpret this as almost a commitment by Russia to ensure the export of grain from Ukraine.

Others - mostly domestic turbo-patriots and people who did not quite understand the issue - saw in the agreement almost Russia's refusal to try to liberate Odessa (and, therefore, punch a corridor in Transnistria).

Well, accordingly, they put this deal on a par with the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions, as well as from Snake Island - that is, with the events that they regarded as “goodwill gestures” for Russia to surrender its positions.

In fact, the meaning of the transaction is different.

First, Moscow provides nothing.

Ukraine itself is responsible for the passage of grain ships to international waters (including ensuring that these ships do not run into mines that the Ukrainian military has laid there).

The functions of Russia are to check these ships for the transport of "prohibited", that is, weapons.

Vessels will be checked at the time of entry into the Black Sea (so that they do not carry goods for the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) and at the time of exit (so that they have only grain, and not weapons that valiant Ukrainian generals receive from the West and resell to other countries and other terrorists around the world).

In addition, Russia has pledged not to hit these ships, as well as the granaries and terminals that load this grain.

This is where Russia's commitments - those that Moscow has officially assumed - end.

And the "calibration" of the objects of the naval infrastructure of the port clearly demonstrated this reality to all interested parties.

The Russian turbo-patriots were shown that the deal was not a capitulation, but an attempt to separate humanitarian flies from military cutlets.

And the attempt is very profitable for Russia.

The Kremlin has not only shown that it is ready to help prevent a global food crisis in every possible way (according to the UN, about 47 million people are now on the verge of starvation), but also achieved a parallel lifting of restrictions on Russian agricultural exports (which were prevented by indirect sanctions).

However, this does not mean that Moscow will take on any extended obligations beyond those that it has signed, and this is already a signal to Western partners.

In fact, their cries of "complete disregard" for Russia are of no interest - much more important is the essential reaction.

If now the US and the EU unilaterally change the essence of the agreement from “do not interfere with the export of grain” to “do not bomb the outskirts of Odessa” and, on the basis of this, refuse to fulfill their obligations under the package deal (that is, they begin to obstruct Russian agricultural exports), then Moscow will draw conclusions about the complete inability of the West to negotiate.

Extremely unpleasant conclusions for Washington and Brussels against the backdrop of active rumors that in the autumn the US and the EU want to try to conclude some kind of deal with Russia over Ukraine.

Finally, the blow was also a signal to Ukraine.

A signal that Russia does not consider any humanitarian agreements as an excuse to “give the Kyiv regime a chance to come to its senses” and suspend the special military operation.

And if Kyiv wants to use the Caliber strike as an additional reason to refuse negotiations with Moscow (“If anyone else could say that some kind of dialogue with Russia is needed, look what is happening. Caliber missiles have destroyed the very possibility of such statements ”, Zelensky said), then this is a problem for Kyiv.

Both Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov have made it clear that the longer Ukraine and the West refuse substantive negotiations with Russia, the larger the geography of the Russian special military operation will be.

Geography, from which nobody excluded Odessa, especially on the basis of some grain deals.

Therefore, if someone spits now, then this is Kyiv.

And he spits not in the face, but in the well, from which he himself will get drunk.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.