Lowongan Kerja PARTTIME Anne Kebab

In the endbacked down. Faced with blocking ships carrying grain from Ukraine or tacitly admitting that his threats to do so had been a bluff, the Kremlin leader opted not to rekindle a global food crisis.

Russia’s exit from the deal that allowed exports of grain fromrough the Black Sea was weeks in the making. Russia had threatened to do so after an explosion rocked the Crimea Bridge in October, and again after the drone attack on its Black Sea fleet last week.

But once Russia finally suspended the deal, it quickly became clear that Moscow had no plan. When Putin committed after consultations with the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the only concessions he could claim were “written guarantees” from Kyiv.

“The Kremlin just fell into a trap itself, from which it did not know how to get out,” wrote Tatiana Stanovaya, the head of the analysis firm R.Politik. “The [grain] deal was suspended, but it is unclear how to stop the export of grain. No way. Only by military means, which was not part of their plans.”

Private promises may have been made toincluding guarantees that could help it export its own agricultural goods. Yet the Kremlin’s climbdown largely shows that Putin can be swayed to back down when he meets resistance and defiance. He “knows how to retreat if necessary,” said Stanovaya.

Western leaders may be focused on what convinced the Kremlin to back down when Putin seems to be set on escalation as a way to save face on the battlefield.

Facing a Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russia has launched hundreds of missiles at Ukrainian power plants and other key infrastructure in recent weeks, aiming to plunge Ukrainian cities into the dark and cold and threaten a humanitarian crisis on the verge of winter.

And western leaders have been concerned about Russia’s threats to use all means at its disposal, including tactical nuclear weapons, to secure territory that it had illegally annexed from Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said the Kremlin’s U-turn was an important lesson to the west about defying the Russian leader.

A Russian blackmailer “is inferior to those who are stronger and know how to clearly state their position,” wrote Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser. “The way to pacify the aggressor lies through a