MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. The investigation into the 2018 murders of Russian journalists in the Central African Republic (CAR) is in full swing, and Bangui has given assurances that all available measures are being taken to clarify the circumstances of the killings, Russian Ambassador to the CAR Alexander Bikantov said in an interview with TASS.
"The investigation into the deaths of Russian journalists in 2018 is still underway. The Central African side assures us that all available measures are being taken to shed light on the circumstances of this terrible crime, despite the objective difficulties. In the region where the murders of Russians took place, there have been repeated outbreaks of activity of armed groups and internal migration processes," the diplomat said. According to Bikantov, the CAR's investigative authorities are "demonstrating moderate optimism."
On July 31, 2018, the Russian diplomatic mission in the Central African Republic reported the deaths of three people in the vicinity of the city of Sibut, north of Bangui, the capital of the CAR. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that journalistic accreditation documents in the names of Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguev and Orkhan Dzhemal were found among the personal effects of the dead, whose bodies were discovered on July 30. They had declared themselves to be tourists upon entering the CAR and then proceeded to the interior of the country to work on filming a documentary. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal investigation into the murders of the journalists.