The first meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin since the downing of the Russian jet in November 2015 was a much-anticipated event. A few hours before the encounter Aug. 9, the Turkish media released a story on the details of the clandestine shuttle diplomacy to end the Russia-Turkey crisis. Interestingly, all of the alleged back-channel negotiators were also present at the meeting, to demonstrate the immense political will behind the talks.

The underlying motive for the rendezvous between Erdogan and Putin was best framed by Russia’s leading political commentator, Fyodor Lukyanov, when he said, “[Russia and Turkey] are two great powers with close historical, cultural and geographical ties with Europe that have never been recognized as 'our guys' there. After the Cold War both got 'dropped off' from the 'Big Europe' project. Paradoxically, it was Putin and Erdogan who at the early stages of their rule invested the most efforts to 'fit in the project.' Thus they both have similar trajectories of disappointment."

It needs to be added that for more than nine months the two leaders have experienced equal disappointment with one another. That's why once the political decision to “normalize” the relations was made, Moscow and Ankara maintained “diplomatically neutral” rhetoric on the past grievances.

The “stage sets” were rather rich with theatricality. Putin never went to meet Erdogan at the airport; instead, a crowd of Turkish construction workers building infrastructure at the St. Petersburg airport took a break to greet Erdogan waving Russian and Turkish flags. The language was even more interesting: Putin referred to the downed jet as “the tragedy,” while Erdogan referred to it as “what happened.” As Putin maintained “friendly composure,” the Turkish leader twice called his Russian counterpart “my friend Vladimir” and twice “my dear friend.” However, Putin reaffirmed his support for Erdogan that he initially signaled soon after the failed coup attempt by saying, “Russia is always against unconstitutional actions. … I hope that under your guidance the Turkish people can handle this crisis."