Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul visited the site where the bodies of Diana and Roman Nazimov were found and said the incident had seriously damaged the country's image and trust in the tourism sector, Thai PBS News reported.
"We apologize for what happened. The government must take urgent measures to restore confidence that this will not happen again," Charnvirakul said.
The Nazimovs had lived in Pattaya with their mother since 2021. On July 26, they left home on a motorcycle and disappeared. Later, the Honda ADV 150 motorcycle was found disassembled and buried near an old cemetery in Chonburi province.
On July 31, police detained two local repeat offenders — 43-year-old Tan and 39-year-old Thongchai. They confessed to the murder and showed where they had hidden the Russians' bodies. Remains of three other people were found at the same site.
According to the suspects, they wanted to steal the siblings' motorcycle. When the Nazimovs resisted, the criminals shot Roman and beat Diana to death.
Russia's embassy in Thailand expects a thorough investigation into the murder and deserved punishment for the guilty, said Ilya Ilyin, head of the consular department of the diplomatic mission.