"As far as I know, it has been established so far that they were attacked by either some criminals or some mercenaries because there are many mercenaries from nearby countries who are armed and earn money with banditry ... It is very difficult to find the killers. Our reporters were attacked in an area that is not under control of the government forces", Titorenko said.
Everything that could be done — questioning local authorities, holding ballistic experiments, transferring all the materials — has already been done, the diplomat said.
"The investigation is ongoing, but it is hard to find people who could be hiding in neighbouring countries. The area where the murder happened is where drovers' roads are. Those who presumably spoke Arabic to each other could be from Kordofan, Darfur, that is from neighbouring Sudan, and they speak Arabic in Chad, too. At this point, these criminals could have gone to hide in neighbouring countries", the diplomat said.
Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguev and Orkhan Dzhemal were killed in July 2018. The three journalists were sent to the CAR by the Investigations Management Center, a media outlet of Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky.