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Putin to bid final farewell to Ambassador Karlov Thursday

Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was gunned down in Ankara on Monday

Flowers near a portrait of murdered Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov EPA/MAXIM SHEMETOV/POOL

Flowers near a portrait of murdered Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov

© EPA/MAXIM SHEMETOV/POOL

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in a ceremony on Thursday to bid a final farewell to Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, murdered in Ankara in Monday.

"The president decided to hold a news conference on Friday instead of Thursday. He deemed it necessary, because a ceremony to bid a farewell and the burial of our ambassador to Turkey who was killed by a terrorist in Ankara will take place on Thursday," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. He noted that "the president will be sure to take part in a ceremony to bid a final farewell (to Ambassador Karlov) to be held in the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Kremlin spokesman added that "the president will chair a Defense Ministry board meeting" on Thursday.

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Media: Turkish police arrest 13 suspects tied to Russian ambassador’s murder

Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, will conduct a pre-burial prayer service for Andrei Karlov in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on Thursday, December 22, the patriarch’s spokesman, priest Alexander Volkov, said on Wednesday.

"His Holiness Patriarch Kirill will conduct a pre-burial prayer service for Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior at noon on Thursday, December 22," he said.

Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was gunned down on Monday. An armed man whom the police later identified as a 22-year-old police officer opened indiscriminate fire in an art gallery in Ankara where Ambassador Karlov was opening a photo exhibition. Turkish officials said the attacker was neutralized. Apart from the ambassador, the shooter wounded three more people but none of them were Russian citizens. The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the incident as an act of terror.

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