Leopard 2 tank © Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images/TASS

Top stories from the Russian press on Thursday, January 26th, prepared by TASS

Washington follows Berlin’s lead in announcing tank deliveries to Ukraine, Moscow is re-entering the fight for the African continent, and experts weigh in on a potential global food crisis. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

Izvestia: US follows Germany’s lead in announcing tank deliveries to Ukraine

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks from his country’s stockpiles to Ukraine. Also, Berlin has agreed to allow other countries to re-export battle vehicles to the former Soviet republic. As of January 25, at least eight European nations - Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Poland, Great Britain, and Finland - have confirmed they would be ready to supply tanks, too.

According to Scholz, Berlin made the move in coordination with its international partners in order to minimize the risk of any confrontation between Russia and NATO. However, not everybody in the Bundestag concurred with that view: the Left Party warned that Leopard 2 supplies would bring Europe closer to a third world war rather than to peace, while Alternative for Germany called the decision "dangerous."

Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev told Izvestia that Berlin’s choice was Germany’s "final refusal to recognize its historical responsibility to our people for Nazi crimes." This will only further aggravate the conflict and runs counter to assurances by German politicians that Berlin is reluctant to get involved in it, the Russian envoy added.

It is worth mentioning that the German chancellor made his decision jointly with the United States. On Thursday, Washington pledged to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks worth $400 million to Kiev.

Experts believe that the West’s decision will lead to global militarization. Research Director at the Valdai Discussion Club Fyodor Lukyanov told Izvestia that every upgrade in the quality of weapons supplies comes with elevated risk. Tanks followed long-range weapons systems, and warplanes could be discussed at the Ramstein airbase in February, the expert said. He sees a clear trend toward escalation, even though the tanks will not be sent immediately and training will not be quick.

In an interview with Izvestia, first deputy chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Dmitry Novikov suggested using different terminology to describe the situation in Ukraine and globally. To the lawmaker, ‘red lines’ mean something different to everybody now, so the notion has lost all meaning, he argues, while the move to supply tanks means that the West "is not considering any talks."

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Moscow re-entering fight for African continent

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has traveled to South Africa, Eswatini, and Angola and will visit yet another country as part of his African tour. Washington expressed concern about Russia’s presence on the African continent, especially ahead of joint maneuvers by the navies of South Africa, Russia and China, and in the wake of activity by PMC Wagner. In the West, they say Africa has become a battleground for competition between the US, China and Russia.

It is hardly debatable that the scramble for Africa has intensified. Quite recently, China’s top diplomat Qin Gang returned from the continent, and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who visited Zambia earlier, was to meet with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday.

Academician Alexey Vasiliev told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Africa was becoming one of the most important directions for Russian policy. He said Lavrov’s trip paved the way for the Russia-Africa summit scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg this summer, something the US is opposed to. "Anti-American and anti-European sentiments have been very strong in Africa since the colonial period. Although the local media echoes Western propaganda, a number of countries have a positive attitude toward Russia. And of course, they expect some financial assistance from Moscow," he said.

As for China, the East Asian nation came out on top in trade with Africa, whose scale of trade with the continent has exceeded volumes with the US and is now approaching the size of Europe’s trade with Africa. "This has caused opposition. The West wants Africa to adjust to its policies, and some countries are doing so. Morocco, for example, has sent Russian tanks to Ukraine. And the others, so to speak, prefer to stay away," Vasiliev concluded.

In an interview with the newspaper, expert Boris Pilyatskin recalled that thousands of Soviet doctors, teachers, aviators, and military consultants worked in Guinea, oil-rich Angola and other African countries in the 1960s-1970s. Russia effectively left Africa following the demise of the Soviet Union, and it would be impossible to restore this previous role. This is why, he says, Lavrov’s tour is mostly political in nature. Meanwhile, bringing Africa to Moscow’s side is important, as African countries account for around 50 votes at the United Nations.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Is world facing growing food crisis?

Although world food prices have been falling for the last nine months in a row, they remain the highest they have been in decades. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel, with production falling, and the number of hungry people growing. Against this backdrop, Russia has been playing an increasingly important role in efforts to ensure global food security.

Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation Oleg Kobyakov says last year’s energy crisis and geopolitical tensions amid the situation around Ukraine compounded traditional risk factors, making the food crisis more acute. Although the FAO aims to eliminate hunger by 2030, he doubts this goal will be attained in the next seven years, and the number of starving people is growing. And if earlier it was a question of economic accessibility to food, in 2023, "there are objective and serious risks that certain food groups will become physically inaccessible," Kobyakov warns, and major restrictions on Russian mineral fertilizers will play a role here.

Expert Ibragim Ramazanov argues that by the start of 2023, the global food market generally adjusted to the geopolitical situation and the specifics of the global market. He pointed to a record harvest of grain and other basic raw materials for food production in Russia. And a higher export potential for 2023 makes it possible to expect a more balanced food market globally, he said.

Another expert, Mikhail Magrilov, disagrees. In 2023, the world will see a full-fledged food crisis, he says, because fertilizer and energy prices have doubled since 2021, while annual agricultural growth has decreased to 1.1% amid extreme volatility and price unpredictability. He says the situation could stabilize through deglobalization and efforts to establish a number of large regional clusters in the world. Establishing relations with India, Iran, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and China could be a solution for Russia, Magrilov concluded.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Turkey might exit NATO in six months

Allies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have acknowledged a regression in talks on NATO expansion. The Justice and Development Party said the scandal around the burning of a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm made any sort of communication with Sweden meaningless. Meanwhile, there has been speculation since last year that Sweden and Finland may join NATO separately. And opposition media outlets in Ankara said Turkish officials had been deliberately sending mixed signals to their counterparts in the two Scandinavian countries.

Deputy leader of the Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi) Ethem Sancak said Turkey might withdraw from the North Atlantic Alliance in five to six months. He was echoed by Erdogan’s ally in the parliamentary coalition, Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli.

Professor Togrul Ismayil from Ankara University reminded Nezavisimaya Gazeta that there have always been calls for Turkey to exit NATO, and US policy is one of the reasons why. "Let’s take a realistic look at the situation. Does Turkey have to leave NATO? Membership there means lower defense costs, and improved military technology and gear. Moreover, it gives protection from both external enemies, and forces within NATO," the expert argues. Staying in the alliance also means protection from attacks and makes it possible to maintain the country’s independence, he added. Commenting on the potential outcome of the negotiations on accession to NATO, Ismayil said everything would depend solely on Sweden.

In his turn, Vladimir Frolov, who specializes in international relations, said that a synchronized accession to the bloc, something the US has been seeking for Sweden and Finland, is connected with the level of defense and activities in the Baltic. The expert proposed waiting for the results of the general elections in Turkey, which local officials say may be held this spring.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Europe seeking to replace Russian gas with Azerbaijani

Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria have requested funds from the European Commission to build infrastructure for more gas supplies from Azerbaijan. At the same time, Italy has reached an agreement with Algeria to expand gas purchases and is in talks to increase gas imports from Libya.

Since the sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines and stoppage at the Yamal-Europe gas link, Russia has been exporting gas to Southern Europe exclusively via Ukraine and the European leg of the TurkStream. Azerbaijan and Turkey, without which it is impossible to establish the delivery of Azeri gas to the EU, are not unfriendly to Russia, but they would hardly reject such a project, if the EC gives it the go-ahead.

However, projects to build infrastructure to replace Russian gas with Azerbaijani fuel may require billions of dollars of investments and may take two to five years, Vladimir Chernov, an analyst at Freedom Finance Global, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. It will also be necessary to redesign gas infrastructure inside the EU, he added.

Talks about any increase in Azerbaijani gas supplies look speculative to deputy head of the National Energy Security Fund Alexey Grivach, who does not think Russia should respond. He suggested Russia offer advantageous cooperation to other partners and more actively use its benefits from cheap gas, develop gas processing and bring higher value-added products to the market.