MOSCOW, Jun. 19 (MNA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Alexey Yerkhov as Russia's new ambassador to Turkey, a decree published on the official portal of legal information Monday states.

Yerkhov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Crisis Management Center, replaces Andrey Karlov, who was shot dead in December 2016 by an off-duty Turkish police officer at the opening of an art gallery exhibition. The Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that it treated the attack as an act of terrorism.

The Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office said last week that it had identified five suspects connected to Karlov's assassination.

SPUTNIK/MNA