President Serzh Sargsyan sent Monday, December 19, a letter of condolences to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov.

The President strongly condemned the incident; he expressed condolences to the family and friends of the ambassador, to the diplomatic corps of the Russian Federation, and the people of Russia.

The ambassador was assassinated at an Ankara art exhibit on Monday evening by a lone Turkish gunman shouting “God is great!” and “don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!” in what Russia called a terrorist attack.

The gunman, who was described by Ankara’s mayor as a policeman, also wounded at least three others in the assault, which was captured on Turkish video. Turkish officials said he was killed by other officers in a shootout.