Putin bids farewell to slain envoy
Kremlin honours Karlov with Hero of Russia award
MOSCOW // Russian president Vladimir Putin bade farewell to Andrei Karlov yesterday at a packed memorial ceremony in Moscow for the late ambassador to Turkey who was shot dead by an off-duty policeman.
Dozens of colleagues and relatives attended the ceremony for Karlov, whose death was labelled by Russia as an act of terror.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the perpetrator was a supporter of US- based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he accused of being behind the aborted July coup.
Mr Putin laid roses at the foot of Karlov’s coffin and spoke with his relatives but left the ceremony without making a statement.
Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov praised the deceased envoy and paid his respects to Karlov’s mother, Maria, his widow, Marina, and his son, Gennady, who is also a diplomat. The body of the ambassador, who was 62, lay in state in a flower-decked coffin.
Russia has bestowed a prestigious Hero of Russia honour on Karlov posthumously, while his alma mater MGIMO Institute of International Relations has initiated a scholarship in his name.
Karlov studied Korean and Japanese as he trained for his diplomatic career and worked for years in North Korea, including as an ambassador between 2001 and 2007.
He had served as Russia’s envoy to Turkey since 2013.