Two Communist lawmakers at the State Duma have appealed to President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to revoke a 1921 treaty with Turkey on "friendship and fraternity," the Izvestia daily reported Monday.
Two senior members of the Communist party (KPRF), Sergei Obukhov and Valery Rashkin, said in their letter to Putin and Lavrov that Turkey was turning increasingly "aggressive" toward Russia, Izvestia reported, citing a copy of the letter.
Moscow's relations with Ankara had been tense over Russia's handling of its air campaign in Syria, and turned bitter after Turkey shot down a Russian bomber plane near the border with Syria on Nov. 24, accusing it of violating Turkish airspace.
Moscow claims that its air strikes are aimed against Islamic terrorists, but Turkey and Western governments accuse Russia of targeting political opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in an attempt to prop up his regime.
Putin called the shootdown a "stab in the back by accomplices of terrorists," and his government sharply curtailed Russia's trade and tourism ties with Turkey.
