Russian Ambassador to Turkey Presents Credentials to Erdogan

Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Erkhov has presented his credentials to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a special ceremony held at the presidential complex in the country's capital Ankara, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Thursday.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Erkhov as the new Russian ambassador to Turkey to replace the late Andrey Karlov on June 19.

In 2009-2015, Erkhov served as Russian Consul General in Istanbul. In August 2015, he headed the Department of the Situation and Crisis Center of Russian Foreign Ministry.

After the ceremony, Erdogan and Erkhov held talks behind closed doors.

Karlov was shot by an off-duty Turkish police officer named Mevlut Mert Altintas at the opening of an art gallery exhibition in Ankara. Three others were injured in the shooting, and the gunman was killed at the scene by the police. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it considered the attack a terrorist act