Putin says ambassador’s murder in Turkey ploy to wreck Syria peace process

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the killing of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was a provocation to try to spoil Russia-Turkey ties and derail Moscow’s attempts to find, with Iran and Turkey, a solution for the Syria crisis.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the killing of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was a provocation to try to spoil Russia-Turkey ties and derail Moscow’s attempts to find, with Iran and Turkey, a solution for the Syria crisis.

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. (AFP)

In televised comments, Putin, speaking at a special meeting in the Kremlin, ordered security at Russian embassies around the world to be stepped up and said he wanted to know who had “directed” the gunman’s hand.

For his part, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he had agreed in a telephone call with Putin that their cooperation and solidarity in fighting terrorism should be even stronger after the killing of Andrei Karlov.

Erdogan too called the killing a clear provocation aimed at damaging relations between Turkey and Russia at a time of normalisation.

Turkey’s foreign minister said common sense was prevailing in both Russia and Turkey, and the two countries would work together to investigate.

Mevlut Cavusgolu was speaking in Moscow, where he was due to meet his Russian and Iranian counterparts to discuss the situation in Syria.