Vladimir Putin has been dealt major blow by one of his last remaining 'friends'

Vladimir Putin has long been citing the risk of Ukraine joining NATO and the threats it poses to Russian national security as the main justifications for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

And it is only ironic that what the Kremlin achieved 17 months into the devastating conflict and after dozens of thousands of lives lost on either side of the border is the biggest NATO expansion the alliance has seen in a while.

After months of stalling, Putin's 'ally' Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he will back Sweden’s membership in NATO.

The move came as a massive blow to the Russian leader, indicating that he has fewer and fewer friends to support his devastating cause.

Ukraine too is more keen than ever to become a part of NATO, with ‘enraged’ Volodymyr Zelenskyy set to sit down with the alliance’s leaders today amid their reluctance to give a timeline for when his country could join the 'club'.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin who is still coming back from Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny may be facing another revolt from a paramilitary organisation that vowed to free Russia from his ‘archaic’ rule at any cost.

Turkey will back Sweden’s NATO bid

Ever since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Turkey and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan bet on the art of high-level diplomacy and proved to be pretty successful in it.

It allowed them to maintain a cordial relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin but at the same time - condemn the war,send armed drones to Kyiv and stay close the Western allies.

It was Turkey that brokered the deal to rescue several high-profile Azovstal defenders from war-torn Mariupol after the city was nearly wiped out and seized by Russia.

To the Kremlin's dismay, the 'heroes' have now returned to Ukraine - the move Moscow said it never agreed to.

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But just yesterday Erdogan, who was until recently seen as Putin’s ally served the latter a massive blow.

After months of stalling, he agreed to send Sweden's NATO accession protocol to the Turkish parliament ‘as soon as possible’, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced.

Hungary remains the only member of the alliance yet to approve Stockholm's bid, but despite Viktor Orban’s ‘warm’ relationship with Kremlin, officials from Budapest have signalled they would not oppose the move should Turkey back it.

Finland which shares 1,340 km of border with Russia has become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation earlier this year.

Erdogan endorses Ukraine’s NATO membership

Last Saturday Erdoğan also urged NATO leaders to fast-track Ukraine's membership, saying that the East European country ‘deserves membership’.

Kyiv asked the alliance to speed up the process in September 2022 following Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions it partly controls.

But to their disappointment, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation officials are still reluctant to tell when the historic deal could be sealed.

Should Ukraine become a member, NATO would be obligated to take action to defend the country against Russia in the war.

Erdogan said at a televised press conference on Saturday morning:

And I want to emphasise one point in your presence (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) once again—no one will lose from the coming of a just peace.

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Sources used:

- Newsweek: 'Erdogan Dealt Five Major Blows to Putin in Just One Week'