Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he was ready to consider restoring relations with Ankara, but that he would require Turkey to take the first step.
"Russia also wants to restore relations with Turkey, we still don't understand why our plane was shot down," Putin told a press conference in Athens, standing beside Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Relations between the two countries hit a low on November 2015, when Turkish jets downed a Sukhoi Su-24 bomber in Syrian border for violating Turkish airspace. Turkey provided radar data that the Russian planes breached the border; while Moscow insisted that the Su-24 had not breached the border.
Ankara has made several attempts to resolve the crisis with Russia, which did not receive a warm response from Kremlin. In April, former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu offered a face-to-face meeting to Russian leaders to settle the diplomatic row, while Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Ankara expects a "recovery" in the strained relationship with Russia, but warned that the process would require patience as they want an end to "groundless accusations."
Following the incident, Moscow announced wide-ranging sanctions against Turkey starting in January, including the end of visa-free travel and a ban on Turkish food products. Russia also called for their nationals to boycott Turkey as a tourist destination.
Turkey and Russia have for years differed over policy towards Syria and Ukraine. Turkey hasn't recognized the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea in 2014, and has repeatedly accused Moscow of supporting the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria.
