ANKARA, April 30. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Turkey Sergey Vershinin handed his credentials to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a ceremony at the Bestepe presidential residence in Ankara, TRT Haber reported.

On February 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin relieved Vershinin of his duties as Russian deputy foreign minister, a position he had held for eight years, and appointed him ambassador to the Turkish Republic. The senior Russian diplomat arrived in Ankara on March 25.

Vershinin, 71, has been employed with the Russian Foreign Ministry since 1976. He served as special representative of the Russian foreign minister for the Middle East from 2011 before assuming the position of a deputy foreign minister in 2018. Vershinin speaks Arabic, French, and English.