Officials have denied
reports of a Russian diplomat involved in a shootout
with a robber in Rio de Janeiro.
Local media earlier reported that a
Russian vice-consul had killed a Brazilian man who attempted to rob him
close to the city's Olympic village. The diplomat was reportedly in his
car with his family when the state-attacker approached the vehicle, broke the
window, and demanded the man's watch. The 60-year-old Brazilian national reportedly used his knowledge of jiu-jitsu to fight with the
robber before shooting him in the street, some local news outlets claimed.
“I want to say officially that no Russian diplomats or general consulate
employees were involved in the
incident. This information [in the press] does not
correspond to reality,” the Russian Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, Vladimir Tokmakov, told the R-sport news agency
Friday. “I
am not ready to comment on the fact of the murder. This is the responsibility of the police of Rio de
Janeiro."
A number of media reports have unofficially named the man as Brazilian lawyer and Russian Vice-Council Marcos Cezar Serias Braga, while others have alleged that the man held a fake ID.
