Wednesday’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Russian resort town of Sochi was held completely behind closed doors, raising questions about the agenda of the talks and their outcome.

Even the duration of the discussion — approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes — added intrigue. Past meetings between the two lasted for six hours. The brevity of their meeting this time can be interpreted in two different ways. Either the presidents maintained their own opinions and saw no room for changing them, or conversely, personal chemistry between the two — and the well-established mechanism of departmental consultations — now allows them to reach common ground faster.

Erdogan and Putin prepared for this meeting as usual. The Turkish leader made several notable and harsh statements at the UN General Assembly session last week, including that Turkey does not recognize Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. In turn, the Russian president instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense to prepare Russian public opinion for negotiations.

Russian state media explained that Putin was distracted by the elections (a new parliament appeared in Russia a week ago). But they assured that the Russian president always has trump cards up his sleeve for successful negotiations.