President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed bilateral relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a statement by the Presidential Communications Directorate said Thursday.

The two leaders also talked about regional developments, in the first phone call following last week's face-to-face meeting in Sochi.
Erdoğan also congratulated Putin's birthday in the phone call, the directorate noted.

Russia and Turkey have historically had complex relations, balancing regional rivalries with finding common ground on economic and strategic interests.

In recent years, the two powers have clashed in particular in Syria, where Moscow and Ankara support opposing camps in the civil war.

In Syria last year they sponsored a cease-fire deal in the northwestern Idlib region, home to the last major opposition groups in northwest Syria.

Last week, the two presidents discussed curbing renewed violence in northwestern Syria and on possibly expanding Moscow's sales of military defense systems to Ankara despite U.S. objections.

The talks took place in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, and the Kremlin said that Putin was meeting Erdoğan after completing a period of coronavirus-related self-isolation.

The Turkish president was accompanied by the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Hakan Fidan, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun and Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalın.