What Putin Wants But Doesn't Get from Erdogan

The resurgent friendship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a strange thing: Putin knows what he wants from Erdogan, and he's gone his half of the way, but he's not getting it yet despite Erdogan's exaggerated show of friendliness.

They had been on good terms before -- until last year's downing of a Russian plane that had briefly entered Turkish airspace from Syria. Putin demanded an apology, but the Turkish president was initially unwilling to make one, so relations between the two countries deteriorated into a state of cold war and Russia introduced sanctions against Turkey's tourist industry, agriculture and construction firms. Erdogan, who has few friends on the international state, was apparently uneasy about this: He ordered his staff to look for a way to make peace, and they found a roundabout one.