Murder of Russian journalists in Africa linked to secretive mercenary group they were investigating,

[Rogue Valley]

Murder of Russian journalists in Africa linked to secretive mercenary group they were investigating, reports claim

A makeshift memorial to Orkhan Dzhemal, cameraman Kirill Radchenko, and producer
Alexander Rastorguyev, who were killed in the Central African Republic in July while
investigating Wagner mercenaries.

1/10/19
Three journalists murdered in the Central African Republic in July were being accompanied by a driver connected to the secretive Russian mercenaries they were investigating, a report has found, calling into doubt Moscow's official explanation that they were shot in a robbery. The new investigation provides the strongest evidence yet that Orkhan Dzhemal, Alexander Rastorguyev and Kirill Radchenko were killed for trying to report on military contractors whose existence is not admitted by the Kremlin. Thursday's findings on the journalists' killing uncovered troubling links with Yevgeny Prigozhin, a catering magnate dubbed “Vladimir Putin's chef” who is known as the patron of the Wagner mercenary group they were investigating. Prigozhin was sanctioned by the United States in February for financing the troll factory that interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump. Washington sanctioned Wagner in 2017 for fighting alongside Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russian investigators concluded the trio were “attacked by unknown people who intended to rob them and were killed when they tried to resist,” according to the foreign ministry. But the journalists' money and film equipment were left on the road, a Khodorkovsky representative told The Telegraph last year. Mobile phone records and other documents have now shown that their driver was linked to Prigozhin, and they were being followed by Emmanuel Kotofio, an officer of the CAR's police special forces. Before and after their killing, Kotofio repeatedly called their driver and a Russian instructor under the command of Valery Zakharov, security advisor to the president of the CAR. Mr Zakharov previously worked as a security consultant for companies belonging to Prigozhin, according to a joint report by Fontanka and Prigozhin's Federal News Agency. Bizarrely, the journalists' editor had asked a Federal News Agency reporter for help organising the trip. That reporter put the three men in touch with a mysterious fixer named “Martin,” who said he couldn't meet them but sent a former police officer to drive them.

Russian oligarch and close Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin owns the Wagner Group, Russia's largest mercenary outfit. The Kremlin uses Wagner mercenaries wherever it deems plausible deniability a necessity. Mr. Prigozhin also owns Concord Catering which supplies meals to the Russian military, and the Internet Research Agency, better known as Russia's 24/7 troll factory.

The Russian journalists here would have spilled the beans to the Russian people about the Kremlin's presence in the Central African Republic and its use of Wagner mercenaries. Couldn't have that when Putin cries poor and alters the pension age. Since Putin took office in 2000, over 200 Russian investigative journalists have been murdered.

 

[Tom Horn]

Murder of Russian journalists in Africa linked to secretive mercenary group they were investigating, reports claim

A makeshift memorial to Orkhan Dzhemal, cameraman Kirill Radchenko, and producer
Alexander Rastorguyev, who were killed in the Central African Republic in July while
investigating Wagner mercenaries.



Russian oligarch and close Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin owns the Wagner Group, Russia's largest mercenary outfit. The Kremlin uses Wagner mercenaries wherever it deems plausible deniability a necessity. Mr. Prigozhin also owns Concord Catering which supplies meals to the Russian military, and the Internet Research Agency, better known as Russia's 24/7 troll factory.

The Russian journalists here would have spilled the beans to the Russian people about the Kremlin's presence in the Central African Republic and its use of Wagner mercenaries. Couldn't have that when Putin cries poor and alters the pension age. Since Putin took office in 2000, over 200 Russian investigative journalists have been murdered.

Which group or alliance of groups was the merc group confronting?

 

[tecoyah]

The U.S reaction to the Saudi murder has all but given permission for this....bad time to be a journalist.

 

[Fledermaus]

The U.S reaction to the Saudi murder has all but given permission for this....bad time to be a journalist.

TRUMP CARD....

Sick and sad...

Are you really suggesting that if we had reacted strongly to the Saudi murder the Russians would not have involved themselves in more murders of the like that occurred prior to the Saudi murder?

Really?

 

[tecoyah]

TRUMP CARD....

Sick and sad...

Are you really suggesting that if we had reacted strongly to the Saudi murder the Russians would not have involved themselves in more murders of the like that occurred prior to the Saudi murder?

Really?

I made no reference to Trump...YOU did. I also stated our inaction is seen as acceptance by many as far as the assassination.

Your words taste foul, please remove them from my mouth.

 

[Fledermaus]

I made no reference to Trump...YOU did. I also stated our inaction is seen as acceptance by many as far as the assassination.

Well who the **** would have responded?

Stan the window washer?

And Russia has been killing opposition journalists for some time now...

Got Skripal?

 

[tecoyah]

Well who the **** would have responded?

Stan the window washer?

And Russia has been killing opposition journalists for some time now...

Got Skripal?

Have A Nice Day

 

[Fledermaus]

Have A Nice Day

I will.

You too.

 

[O'Dun]

Murder of Russian journalists in Africa linked to secretive mercenary group they were investigating, reports claim

A makeshift memorial to Orkhan Dzhemal, cameraman Kirill Radchenko, and producer
Alexander Rastorguyev, who were killed in the Central African Republic in July while
investigating Wagner mercenaries.



Russian oligarch and close Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin owns the Wagner Group, Russia's largest mercenary outfit. The Kremlin uses Wagner mercenaries wherever it deems plausible deniability a necessity. Mr. Prigozhin also owns Concord Catering which supplies meals to the Russian military, and the Internet Research Agency, better known as Russia's 24/7 troll factory.

The Russian journalists here would have spilled the beans to the Russian people about the Kremlin's presence in the Central African Republic and its use of Wagner mercenaries. Couldn't have that when Putin cries poor and alters the pension age. Since Putin took office in 2000, over 200 Russian investigative journalists have been murdered.

Interesting stuff, that adds up to about ten journalist a year, that's some tab he's got running.

 

[TheParser]

Those Russian journalists were either courageous or arrogant. Of course, I do not know which.

They were courageous, if they knew how brutal Czar Putin's government is but decided to go ahead anyway.
They were arrogant, if they knew how brutal Czar Putin's government is but thought that they were exempt from his henchmen's brutality.

As a lifelong coward, I do admire those journalists who are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to get a story. Personally, I feel they are very foolish. Why throw away your life so that readers can be entertained for a few minutes before they throw the paper in the trashcan?


Apparently, some journalists feel that it is worth it. Even in Mexico, where journalists are slain by the dozens, there are still some journalists who insist on exposing the drug cartels.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Interesting stuff, that adds up to about ten journalist a year, that's some tab he's got running.

List of journalists killed in Russia

The Putin presidencies - 2000-2018 and the Second Chechen War - 1999 onwards.