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Number of countries assign armed guards to Russian ambassadors — official

​After the murder of Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov in Turkey, Moscow took a whole set of measures for ensuring the security of overseas organizations

MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. A number of countries have assigned personal armed guards to Russian ambassadors, Russian first deputy foreign minister Vladimir Titov said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily.

"After the mean murder of our colleague (ambassador) Andrei Karlov in Turkey, we took a whole set of measures, which President Vladimir Putin requested for ensuring the security of our overseas organizations and their staff members," Titov said. "We're pressing the authorities of the countries were our diplomats are accredited to ensure all the steps essential for the security of our overseas organizations and their staff members, proceeding from the fact that appropriate provisions are found in the 1961 and 1963 Vienna Conventions on diplomatic and consular relations."

"A big number of countries assigned armed guards to the heads of our diplomatic missions there," he said.

The round-the-clock service of building superintendants is the cornerstone element of physical protection of the ambassadorial and consular compounds, as most of its workers are former soldiers of border-guard forces who have taken courses of specialized training.

"To guard the ambassadors and other diplomatic staff we use Russian special assignment units, too," Titov said. "Teams of this kind work mostly in the countries with high risks of terrorist attacks quite naturally, upon consent from the authorities of those countries."

Besides, many Russian missions in foreign countries hire local private security firms, he said.