In the long historical perspective, Russian and Turkish foreign policies have been deeply affected by the shared neighborhood of the wider Black Sea  region and the Caucasus, where both countries possess multifaceted security, political, economic and cultural ties. This paper highlights the complex nature of Russia-Turkey cooperative and competitive relations with a special focus on the wider Black Sea region and the Caucasus since the 1990s. It argues that while the general features of cooperation between Ankara and Moscow in the region are well known, competition is equally strong. Given the fragile nature of the strategic partnership between Russia and Turkey, this cooperation-competition nexus demands a more comprehensive and multi-level approach to the ways in which the two countries’ competitive interests in the Black Sea region might be turned into a well-grounded cooperation.