Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd L) speaks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L), director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin (R) and Alexander Bortnikov (2nd R), director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 19, 2016, few hours after the Russian ambassador to Ankara was shot dead by a gunman during an attack at an art exhibition in Ankara. A gunman crying "Aleppo" and "revenge" shot Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov while he was visiting an art exhibition in Ankara on December 19, witnesses and media reports said. The Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been "neutralised" in a police operation, without giving further details. / AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / Alexei Druzhinin
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was a provocative ploy to try to ruin Russian-Turkish relations and to take off track the attempts of Moscow, together with Turkey and Iran, to find a solution to the Syrian crisis, Reuters has reported.
Speaking at a meeting in the Kremlin, Putin ordered security at Russian embassies worldwide to be heightened and said he wanted to know who had directed the gunman.
