MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Russia’s Federation Council adopted a statement at Friday’s plenary session condemning the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, and urging the world community to band together to fight international terrorism.

"The Federation Council is outraged by this barbarous act, strongly condemns it and states that international terrorism not only continues to attack civilians, but also organizes the assassinations of high-ranking state officials with the aim of stirring up conflicts and crises between countries," the statement said.

The senators also offered "deep and sincere condolences to Andrey Karlov’s family and friends and his colleagues in the Russian Foreign Ministry."

Call for unity

The Federation Council believes that activities aimed at dividing the international community only serve to support the conclusion about the need to pool efforts globally to counter terrorism. According to the parliamentarians, it is necessary to put aside all political disagreements and take a firm stance in favor of broad and effective inter-parliamentary and interstate cooperation in the war on global terror.

"It is high time to finally stop the pointless attempts to classify terrorists into ‘moderate’ and ‘not moderate’, stop manipulating public opinion and put an end to media campaigns against those who are de facto fighting against terrorists and providing humanitarian aid to people in war-torn areas," the document said. "We have a common objective - to stop terrorists from achieving their criminal goals and to unite to confront this sheer and utter evil, which has no religious, ethnic or ideological implications and cannot be justified by anything," the senators stressed.

Address to parliamentarians

Federation Council members also noted that they expect Turkey’s Grand National Assembly to assist the competent authorities in investigating all the circumstances surrounding the tragedy and develop a reliable and effective set of measures to prevent such terrorist attacks in the future.

They also expressed gratitude to their counterparts in other parliaments and inter-parliamentary organizations around the world, who offered their solidarity and support to Andrei Karlov’s family and friends and the Russian people.