Updated Dec. 19, 2023 at 12:30 p.m.
The Russian diplomat Andrei Karlov served as an ambassador to North Korea, and then Turkey. On this day in 2016, he was assassinated while giving a speech in Turkey — the moment captured by an Associated Press photographer who’d been assigned to cover the speech.
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How was Andrei Karlov assassinated?
He was assassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish police officer, while at an art exhibition in Ankara, Turkey. Altıntaş, who was dressed in a suit and tie, shot him at point-blank range fatally wounding Karlov and injuring others.
Why was Andrei Karlov assassinated?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared at the time that the murder was designed to disrupt the warming Russia–Turkey relations. It has also been suggested that a possible motive was revenge for the Russian Air Force’s targeting of rebel-held areas in Aleppo, Syria.
