Vladimir Putin says killing of Russian ambassador designed to spoil Russian-Turkish ties

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the killing of the Russian ambassador to Ankara is designed to spoil Russian-Turkish ties.

Mr Putin said the killing of Andrey Karlov in the Turksih capital was also intended to derail Moscow's attempts to find, with Iran and Turkey, a solution for the Syria crisis.

He said Russian investigators have opened a criminal case into the killing.

In televised comments, Mr Putin, speaking at a special meeting in the Kremlin, ordered security at Russian embassies around the world to be stepped up and said he wanted to know who had "directed" the gunman's hand.

He heaped praise on the murdered Russian ambassador, Mr Karlov, who was shot in the back and killed as he gave a speech at an Ankara art gallery, and made clear that Moscow's response to his assassination would be robust.

"A crime has been committed and it was without doubt a provocation aimed at spoiling the normalisation of Russo-Turkish relations and spoiling the Syrian peace process which is being actively pushed by Russia, Turkey, Iran and others," said a stern-faced Mr Putin.

"There can only be one response - stepping up the fight against terrorism. The bandits will feel this happening."

Mr Putin, who said he personally knew the slain envoy, said he had agreed in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Russian investigators would soon fly to Ankara to help the Turks with the investigation.

"We must know who directed the killer's hand," Mr Putin told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of his SVR foreign intelligence service, and Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the domestic FSB security service.

Mr Putin ordered security at Turkish diplomatic facilities in Russia to be stepped up and said he wanted guarantees from Turkey about the safety of Russian diplomatic facilities.

"I also ask you to implement the agreed proposals on strengthening security at Russian diplomatic facilities abroad," Mr Putin told the meeting.

The foreign and defence ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey are due to discuss the future of Syria in Moscow on Tuesday.

The Interfax news agency cited Leonid Slutsky, a senior parliamentarian, as saying earlier on Monday that the talks would go ahead despite the murder.

In an odd coincidence, Putin had been planning to attend a Moscow play on Monday night written by Alexander Griboyedov, Russia's ambassador to Iran, who was murdered in 1829.

Using a similar message, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a video message being shown on several Turkish TV channels, said that “this is a provocation to damage the normalisation process of Turkish-Russian relations”.

“But both the Russian and Turkish administrations have the determination not to fall for this provocation,” he added.

Agencies contributed to this report