Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Moscow's ambassador to the Central African Republic (C.A.R.), where three Russian journalists were killed last summer under suspicious circumstances.
Putin issued a decree on January 15 dismissing Sergei Lobanov and naming Vladimir Titorenko to be the new Russian ambassador.
Titorenko has previously served as Moscow's ambassador to Iraq, Algeria, and Qatar.
Orkhan Dzhemal, Aleksandr Rastorguyev, and Kirill Radchenko were shot dead on July 30, 2018, while in the C.A.R. to film a documentary about the Russian mercenary firm Vagner, which was operating in the war-torn African country.
The film was funded by Russian opposition activist and former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Investigation Control Center.
Investigators from Khodorkovsky's Dossier project said at a press conference in London on January 10 that they had uncovered evidence suggesting that mercenaries tied to Russian tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin were involved in the killing of the three journalists.
They urged the United Nations to ensure that credible investigation of the incident be conducted.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and the C.A.R. government have said the men were killed while resisting a robbery attempt.
C.A.R. officials said the perpetrators were Arabic speakers "in turbans."
