MOSCOW, December 20 /TASS/. A plane carrying the body of slain Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov is to arrive in Moscow late on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Tuesday.

"I would like to thank you for the condolences offered over yesterday’s crime committed against Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov. A joint investigation has begun. Our colleagues left for Turkey along with Russian experts this morning. Our ambassador’s body accompanied by his wife will arrive in Moscow tonight," Lavrov said.

Russia’s top diplomat added that Moscow appreciated the global response to the Russian ambassador’s murder.

Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov was gunned down in Ankara late on Monday as he was opening a photo exhibition titled "Russia: From Kaliningrad to Kamchatka, through the eyes of a traveler."

According to Ankara, Turkish security services liquidated the assassin who himself turned out to be a policeman. Three people were injured in the incident, which the Russian Foreign Ministry described as a terror attack. The Russian Investigative Committee, which initiated criminal proceedings, classified Karlov’s murder as an act of international terrorism.