Less fruit to throw at politicians TWO portraits flanked by red roses and candles rest on a bench outside the Russian defence ministry. The makeshift memorial honours the soldiers killed last month by “accomplices of ISIL”—Russia’s new nickname for Turkey. After Vladimir Putin declared Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet near the Syrian border to be a “stab in the back”, a chill has descended over Russian-Turkish relations. Mr Putin accused Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan of protecting and profiting from the Islamic State’s oil trade; Mr Erdogan promised to resign if Russia could provide proof. On December 2nd Russia’s defence ministry presented information it says does just that. Mr Erdogan called it “slander”.
In a few seconds, the missile a Turkish plane fired last month undid years of diplomacy. Until the incident, the Kremlin saw Turkey as a strategic partner. Ordinary Russians knew it as a place to go on cheap beach holidays. Bilateral trade flourished, especially in energy, and Turkish construction firms helped build up Sochi for the winter Olympics. Last year Mr Putin paid Mr Erdogan perhaps his ultimate compliment,…
