Erdogan, Putin vow to improve ties following drone tensions

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday pledged to improve ties during a call, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The phone call between the pair arrives following increased tensions in recent weeks between Ankara and Moscow over drones.
The leaders discussed regional issues, including the Caucasus, Syria and Libya, Anadolu said, while “renewing their commitment to intensifying their mutual interest-based partnership.”
Ankara has sought closer defence ties with Ukraine in recent years, including sales of its domestically produced Bayraktar TB2 drones.
NATO-member Turkey has drawn the ire of Russia by supplying combat drones to Ukraine, a move Moscow has said risks escalating the conflict over Russia’s conflict with Kiev in the Donbas region.
Kiev in October used the TB-2 drone in an armed strike on pro-Russian separatist positions in October, prompting Moscow to say that Turkish drone sales to Ukraine contributed to destabilisation in the region.
In 2014, Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and aided a rebellion in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Russian-backed rebels have been fighting there ever since, with growing tensions as Russia amasses troops on the border.
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