Russia is expressing its anger at Turkey for shooting down one of its warplanes last week rationally, taking the economic sanctions route, at least for the time being.

It is encouraging to see that Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped short of taking military action against Ankara, which could have escalated into a much larger confrontation, a fear expressed by many these past days.

To be sure, the punitive measures Moscow is taking against Ankara are far-reaching, involving not only travel restrictions on Turkish nationals but also a string of economic sanctions, including putting on hold all major joint economic schemes and ending the import of Turkish products and labour.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is edging closer to satisfying Moscow’s demand of an apology for the downing of the Russian plane, having repeatedly said he was “sorry” for what happened.

As long as statesmanship and cool heads prevail on both sides, replacing brinkmanship, there is hope that the crisis between Russia and Turkey can be contained and slowly defused.

Once tension between the two major players in the Syrian conflict fizzles out, they might even consider cooperation in ending the Syrian conflict in a peaceful way.

The just-started Paris summit on climate is a good opportunity for Putin and Erdogan to have face-to-face meetings during which tension can be expected to ease.

These two major countries could join efforts to help sort out the conflicts in the Middle East, which would serve their interests as well, instead of staying at loggerheads for an unfortunate incident that, grantedly, should not happen again.