Envoy killing aimed at Russia-Turkey ties, says Putin

AFP, MOSCOW:  President Vladimir Putin on Monday called the killing of Russia’s ambassador in Turkey a “provocation” aimed at sabotaging warming ties between Moscow and Ankara and efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria.“The crime that was committed is without doubt a provocation aimed at disrupting the normalisation of Russian-Turkish relations and disrupting the peace process in Syria that is being actively advanced by Russia, Turkey and Iran,” Putin said in televised comments.“There can be only one answer to this—stepping up the fight against terrorism, and the bandits will feel this,” he said at a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister and the heads of the overseas and domestic intelligence agencies.The Kremlin strongman said that Moscow was sending investigators to Ankara to probe the killing after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light in a phone call. “We have to know who directed the hand of the killer,” Putin said.Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead Monday at an art exhibition opening in Ankara by a Turkish policeman crying “Aleppo” and “Allahu Akbar”, in what Moscow termed a “terrorist act”.

 

Envoy killing aimed at Russia-Turkey ties, says Putin

AFP, MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Monday called the killing of Russias ambassador in Turkey a provocation aimed at sabotaging warming ties between Moscow and Ankara and efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria.The crime that was committed is without doubt a provocation aimed at disrupting the normalisation of Russian-Turkish relations and disrupting the peace process in Syria that is being actively advanced by Russia, Turkey and Iran, Putin said in televised comments.There can be only one answer to thisstepping up the fight against terrorism, and the bandits will feel this, he said at a meeting with Russias foreign minister and the heads of the overseas and domestic intelligence agencies.The Kremlin strongman said that Moscow was sending investigators to Ankara to probe the killing after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light in a phone call. We have to know who directed the hand of the killer, Putin said.Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead Monday at an art exhibition opening in Ankara by a Turkish policeman crying Aleppo and Allahu Akbar, in what Moscow termed a terrorist act.