Andrei Karlov

Andrei Gennadyevich Karlov (Russian: Андрей Геннадьевич Карлов; 4 February 1954 – 19 December 2016) was a Russian diplomat who served as the Russian ambassador to Turkey and earlier as the Russian ambassador to North Korea.

On the evening of 19 December 2016, while speaking at an art gallery exhibition in Ankara, Turkey, he was assassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish policeman.

Early life and education

Andrei Gennadyevich Karlov was born in Moscow on 4 February 1954 to Gennady Karlov and Maria Alexandrovna. He also had a sister named Yelena Shirankova who was 6 years younger than him. In 1968, Karlov's father died at the age of 37 from heart failure when Karlov was 14 years old.

In 1976, Karlov graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. That same year, he joined the diplomatic service.

He was also fluent in Korean and English.

Career

In 1992, he graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He was fluent in Korean, and served in different roles in the Soviet embassy in North Korea from 1979 to 1984, and 1986 to 1991. Between 1992 and 1997 he worked in the Russian embassy in South Korea, and served as Russia's ambassador to North Korea from June 2001 to December 2006. While serving as ambassador to North Korea, he was instrumental in the building of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity, a Russian Orthodox church in Pyongyang, through discussions with Kim Jong-il. The church was consecrated in 2006.

From 2006 to 2008, Karlov served as Deputy Director of the Consular Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. He was later promoted to director of the department and served from January 2009 until December 2012. Later, he was appointed ambassador to Turkey in July 2013.