Russia To Bury Late Envoy Thursday, Says Kremlin

Agency report

Slain Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov will be buried on Thursday, even as President Vladimir Putin is expected to be in attendance.

Veteran diplomat Karlov was shot nine times in the back by off-duty Turkish policeman Mevlut Mert Altintas. The incident happened at the art gallery opening of a show of Russian photography on Monday.

And Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said Putin had decided to postpone his major annual press conference. It was scheduled for the same day. It would now take place Friday, in order to allow the president attend the farewell events for Karlov.

“The president will take part in the mourning ceremonies,” Peskov told Russian news agencies.

Investigation ongoning

Karlov’s body arrived back in Moscow late Tuesday after Russian investigators landed in Turkey to help probe the assassination.

The brazen killing stunned Ankara and Moscow, which have rowed repeatedly over the Syria conflict. But both had recently begun to cooperate closely on the evacuations from war-wrecked Aleppo.

Following the attack, the Turkish government pointed the finger of blame at exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. The country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu further informed the US that his group was “behind the attack”.