Putin delays major media event to attend Karlov funeral

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the funeral of Moscow’s ambassador to Turkey who was assassinated in Ankara, a Kremlin spokesman confirmed on Wednesday.

Dmitry Peskov was quoted in a report by Russian news agency TASS saying Putin had postponed his annual solo news conference to attend Andrey Karlov’s funeral.

Karlov died on Monday after being shot multiple times at an art exhibition in Ankara. He was delivering a speech when the assailant, 22-year-old policeman Mevlut Mert Altintas, opened fire.

Peskov said Putin’s news conference would start at noon local time on Friday. In the significant year-end media meeting, the Russian leader speaks and answers questions for around four hours unaccompanied.