Soviet Union. But their warm relations didn't last long; after the World War II, the Bosphorus crisis occurred at 1946 due to Joseph Stalin's demand for a complete Soviet control of the straits led to resurgence of Russophobia in Turkey. Anti-Russian sentiment started to increase again since 2011, following the event of the Syrian Civil War. Russia supports the Government of Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey supports the Free Syrian Army and had many times announced their intentions to overthrow Assad, once again strained the relations. Relations between the two went further downhill after a Russian jet was shot down by a Turkish jet, flaring that Russia wanted to invade Turkey over Assad's demand; and different interests in Syria. Turkish media have promoted Russophobic news about Russian ambitions in Syria, and this has been the turning point of remaining poor relations although two nations have tried to re-approach their differences. Turkish military operations in Syria against Russia and Assad-backed forces also damage the relations deeply. Business In May and June 2006, Russian media cited discrimination against Russian companies as one possible reason why the contemplated merger between the Luxembourg-based steelmaker Arcelor and Russia's Severstal did not finalize. According to the Russian daily Izvestiya, those opposing the merger "exploited the 'Russian threat' myth during negotiations with shareholders and, apparently, found common ground with the Europeans", while Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the State Duma observed that "recent events show that someone does not want to allow us to enter their markets." On 27 July 2006, The New York Times quoted the analysts as saying that many Western investors still think that anything to do with Russia is "a little bit doubtful and dubious" while others look at Russia in "comic book terms, as mysterious and mafia-run." See also Anti-Slavic sentiment Anti-Sovietism German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians Rashism Annotations References Sources and further reading Adamovsky, Ezequiel. Euro-orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France (c. 1740–1880) (Peter Lang, 2006). Ambrosio, Thomas. "The rhetoric of irredentism: The Russian Federation's perception management campaign and the annexation of Crimea." Small Wars & Insurgencies 27.3 (2016): 467–490. Ardeleanu, Constantin. "Russophobia, Free Trade and Maritime Insecurity." in The European Commission of the Danube, 1856–1948 (Brill, 2020) pp. 29–49. Buzogány, Aron. "Europe, Russia, or both? Popular perspectives on overlapping regionalism in the Southern Caucasus." East European Politics 35.1 (2019): 93–109.