MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Karlov was killed by a gunman at an art gallery exhibition opening in Ankara. Three other people were also injured in the attack.
"He was a man who was in contact with opposition members, including the Syrian opposition and was working on setting up dialogue with them. This gives the tragedy a completely new angle," Zakharova said late on Monday while appearing on a Rossiya 1 channel program.
She added that the ambassador was aware of the difficulties involved in establishing peaceful dialogue in the region.
Both Russian and Turkish foreign ministers, who spoke soon after the incident, said those behind the murder tried to disrupt Russian-Turkish ties and the two countries' joint efforts at settling the Syrian conflict. A representative of Syria's High Negotiations Committee (HNC) opposition group later expressed a similar opinion. At the same time, the representative told Sputnik that the murder was unlikely to have an impact on the Syrian situation.
