Rarely do two countries’ leaders hold a joint press conference proclaiming their intention to “deepen relations” barely one week after a clash between their militaries left dozens dead. Yet, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, did just that on March 5 following more than six hours of talks at the Kremlin, where they agreed to a ceasefire to prevent the increasingly dangerous crisis over the Syrian rebel stronghold of Idlib from escalating. The talks came after Russian planes bombed Turkish positions south of Idlib on February 27, killing dozens of Turkish soldiers. After the bombing, Turkish troops carried out drone and artillery strikes that, Ankara claimed, killed hundreds of Syrian soldiers and destroyed several Russian-supplied air defense systems. Turkish F-16s also shot down two Syrian Su-24 fighter jets.
