Russian ambassador to Turkey shot dead in art gallery

The Russian ambassador to Turkey was killed when a gunman opened fire when he was about to deliver a speech on the opening of the exhibition “Russia in the eyes of Turks in Ankara today. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told journalists that Andrey Karlov, was injured in an attack later he had died of his wounds in the hospital.

The Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been "neutralised" soon after the attack, which appeared to mark one of the most serious spillovers of the Syria conflict in Turkey. Relations between Moscow and Ankara have long been fraught over the



conflict, the two supporting opposing sides.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the murder of the Russian ambassador saying he is appalled by the senseless act of terror. US President elect Donald Trump said, the murder of an ambassador is a violation of all rules of civilised order and must be universally condemned. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the killing a provocation aimed at sabotaging warming ties between Moscow and Ankara and efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria. Turkey describes the killing as a terror attack on Turkey-Russia relations.