MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Karlov was killed by a gunman at an art gallery exhibition opening in Ankara. Three other people were also injured in the attack.
"We are convinced that those who planned this barbaric act aimed to undermine the process of normalization of Russian-Turkish relations, mainly in order to prevent effective counter-terrorist measures in Syria," Lavrov said.
Earlier in the day, Lavrov spoke to his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the phone. The two ministers agreed to step up the joint fight against terrorism in Syria. The conversation took place after Cavusoglu arrived in Moscow for a trilateral Russian-Turkish-Iranian meeting on Syrian settlement due to take place on Tuesday.
"We will hold this meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran which has been long in the planning. I have just talked to my colleague Mevlut Cavusoglu, who had arrived to Moscow, on the phone," Lavrov added, noting that a Russian investigative group will arrive to Turkey on Tuesday to start a joint investigation into Karlov's murder.
