Three Russian journalists were killed in Central African Republic, their news outlet said on Tuesday, in what local authorities said was an ambush by unidentified assailants.
Russian online news organisation Investigation Control Centre (TsUR) said in a Facebook post the three journalists — identified as Orhan Dzhemal, Alexander Rastorguyev and Kirill Radchenko — were in the country on assignment.
Russia’s foreign ministry confirmed in a statement that three people with identification documents belonging to Dzhemal, Rastorguyev and Radchenko had been found dead and their bodies had been brought back to the capital Bangui.
TsUR said the journalists had been investigating the activities of the so-called Wagner group, an organisation of private military contractors which, people with ties to the group have told Reuters, carried out clandestine combat missions on the Kremlin’s behalf in eastern Ukraine and Syria.
Local and international media have reported that Wagner operates in the country since Russia delivered light arms to the country’s security forces this year and deployed hundreds of military and civilian instructors to train them.
Reuters has been unable to verify the…
