Russia has staged a sombre memorial ceremony for Andrei Karlov, the ambassador to Turkey shot dead in Ankara by a man shouting “Don’t forget Aleppo” and “Allahu Akbar”.
Russia and Turkey described the assassination on Monday as a failed attempt to derail a rapprochement between Moscow and Ankara, which has seen them cooperate more closely over Syria, where they have backed different sides in the conflict.
Diplomats and family members gathered at the Russian foreign ministry, a looming Stalin-era skyscraper in central Moscow, to bid farewell to Karlov, who was 62.
TV footage showed Karlov’s body lying in an open casket in the building’s marble lobby, flanked by a uniformed honour guard, as mourners including the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, and the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, approached to lay flowers.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is also pays his respects at the ministry.
Karlov was a Soviet-trained diplomat who worked in North and South Korea during the 1990s and 2000s, and was sent to Turkey in 2013.
His name was etched into a slab of pink marble on the wall of the foreign ministry, along with the names of Russia’s most illustrious diplomats.
Proceedings will move to Moscow’s gold-domed Christ the Saviour cathedral later on Thursday, where the head of the Russian Orthodox church will lead a ceremony.
Putin, who said he knew the ambassador personally, has posthumously given Karlov the Hero of the Russian Federation award, the country’s highest honorary title.
“We must know who directed the killer’s hand,” Putin said after the attack, promising retribution.
Turkish authorities have identified the assassin as Mevlut Mert Altıntas, 22, who had worked for Ankara’s riot police.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, has blamed the killing on the network of the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, which Gülen denies. The Kremlin, however, has said it is too early to say who was behind the assassination.
Russia has flown a team of investigators to Turkey to help with the investigation.
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