DUSHANBE, 20.12.2016. /NIAT «Khovar»/. Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov has died of wounds after an attack in Ankara, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.

«Today is a tragic day for Russian diplomacy,» she said. «The Russian Ambassador received a fatal wound at a public event in Ankara. He died later.», — TASS reports citing Zakharova.

A gunman fired shots at the Russian diplomat at the opening of the photo exhibition «Russia from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka in the eyes of a traveler» in Ankara on Monday.

It was also reported that the man who assassinated the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, on Monday night is identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas, a former office of the Turkish police who was fired from the forces of law and order in the course of investigation of the July 15 abortive putsch, Haberturk news portal said.

The assassin was killed by security guards on the spot. The man who shot and killed Russian Ambassador had penetrated the premises of the arts gallery disguised as a policeman, NTV channel said.

Born in 1954, Karlov has served as the Russian Ambassador to Turkey since 2013.