Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday evening condemned the assassination of Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey at an art exhibition in Ankara.
"Israel condemns the brutal assassination of Ambassador Andrey Karlov this evening in Ankara. We send our deepest condolences to his family and to the Russian people. The murder of a diplomat serves as a stark reminder of the need for the civilized world to come together in fighting the forces of terrorism," said Netanyahu.
The UN Security Council condemned the assassination as well and branded it a "terrorist attack".
"The members of the Security Council reiterated the need to bring the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of terrorist attacks to justice," the 15-member council said in a statement.
Karlov was shot dead at an art exhibition opening in Ankara by a Turkish policeman crying "Aleppo" and "Allahu Akbar".
The incident came after days of protests in Turkey over Russia's role in Syria, although Moscow and Ankara are now working closely together to evacuate citizens from the battered city of Aleppo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday called the killing of the ambassador in Turkey a "provocation" aimed at sabotaging warming ties between Moscow and Ankara and efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria.
"The crime that was committed is without doubt a provocation aimed at disrupting the normalization of Russian-Turkish relations and disrupting the peace process in Syria that is being actively advanced by Russia, Turkey and Iran," Putin said in televised comments and quoted by AFP.
"There can be only one answer to this -- stepping up the fight against terrorism, and the bandits will feel this," he added.
Putin said that Moscow was sending investigators to Ankara to probe the killing after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light in a phone call.
"We have to know who directed the hand of the killer," Putin stressed.