Partners or rivals? Russia and Turkey navigate awkward alliance

Before Wednesday’s summit in Sochi between Putin and Erdogan, a summary of the ties that bind and the rifts that divide.

Turkey’s defence purchases from Russia have alarmed Ankara’s NATO partners but the two countries remain rivals in wars from the Middle East to the Caucasus, highlighting the faultlines running through their awkward alliance.

Turkey has bought Russian missile defence systems and could buy more equipment from Moscow. It imports Russian gas, hosts millions of Russian tourists and has said membership of the Western NATO alliance is no barrier to building ties with Moscow.

But it has also deployed troops in north Syria to push back Russian-backed Syrian government forces, and the two countries backed rival sides in the wars in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.