‘Tough Guys’: Why Putin, Erdogan Can't Back Down in Plane Spat
- Turkey's concilatory steps short of the apology Putin demands
- Putin had cultivated ties with leader he saw as natural ally
Putin: Terrorist are Using Money From Turkey
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Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan once bonded over their tough, independent styles of rule. Now, those alpha-attributes are stoking the crisis that erupted when a Turkish warplane locked onto a Russian bomber and shot it down.
The Russian president on Thursday stepped up his increasingly personal attacks. “Allah decided to punish the ruling clique in Turkey by depriving them of reason and common sense,” he said in his annual state-of-the-nation address. “They will regret again and again what they’ve done.”