The Russian State Duma's International Relations Committee pledged support for the appointment of former Consul General in Istanbul Aleksei Erkhov as the new Russian ambassador to Turkey, committee sources said Thursday.

Russian laws require that nominations for ambassadors are referred to the relevant parliamentary committee by the foreign ministry. In the case that the committee supports a candidate, the person is then referred to the president for approval.

Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov was killed by an off-duty officer named Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, who smuggled a gun inside the Ankara art gallery where the ambassador was attending an event, just as Russia and Turkey were trying to fix broken ties following the downing of a Russian fighter jet for violating Turkish airspace.

Relations thawed after Moscow and Ankara agreed to restore ties a year after the jet-downing incident.