Two Greek soldiers tracking footprints on the Turkish-Greek border crossed into Turkey on March 1. Greece insists that the young soldiers had accidentally strayed into a Turkish military zone due to heavy snowfall that had impaired their vision. Turkey, however, arrested the pair on espionage charges.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza government are taking a somewhat subdued approach to the issue of the soldiers, agreeing in an internal Cabinet meeting that Turkey, a NATO ally, would “sooner or later” drop the issue instead of exploiting it further. Athens, and the European Union by extension, is not interested in escalating tensions with Turkey beyond rhetoric.

But the arrest and detention of the two Greek soldiers is only the latest in an ongoing saga between the two countries. Tensions have been particularly high since Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s historic, albeit controversial, visit to Athens last November. The Turkish president spoke of revising the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which delineates the Turkish-Greek border and is a cornerstone of the two countries’ peace agreement.

Relations have particularly deteriorated since Athens refused to extradite eight Turkish soldiers accused of involvement in the failed 2016 coup. In January, the Greek Supreme Court ruled that the soldiers would be unlikely to receive a fair trial in Turkey. Turkey was furious, but Ankara expressed willingness to exchange the two Greek soldiers for the eight Turks, a negotiation Tsipras resoundingly refuses.