Putin and Erdogan have friendly meeting 9 months after Turkey downed Russian plane

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan met, in Russia, for the first time since Turkey downed a Russian warplane last November.

(Image credit: ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)

published 9 August 2016

Nine months after the Turkish air force downed a Russian plane over Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sat down Tuesday in St. Petersburg to talk things out. It was the leaders' first meeting since the incident last November, and Erdogan's first trip abroad since Turkey's failed July coup. Turkey has maintained it downed the Russian fighter jet after the plane failed to heed multiple warnings to leave Turkish airspace.

As both leaders had hoped, the meeting was a step towards restored relations. Erdogan called Putin his "dear friend" and indicated that Turkey is ready to move forward with a joint natural gas pipeline project and the construction of its first nuclear power plant. Putin promised to once again allow Russian tourists to visit Turkey, a promising move towards reversing Russia's economic sanctions on the country.