The man accused of murdering Russian IT engineer Denis Goncharov in Sihanoukville earlier this year has been identified by Cambodian police as Dmitry Sidorov, a week after a suspect was apprehended in Saint Petersburg by Russian police.

Until contacted for comment on the case, Cambodian authorities were not aware that a suspect had been arrested in Russia.

However, according to a Cambodian Interior Ministry official, Sidorov fled Cambodia just hours after the murder on July 19, the same day Goncharov’s corpse was found floating in a canal by a popular beach.

“We knew his identity thanks to a passport copy from the motorcycle shop where the suspect rented a motorbike,” said the official, who declined to be named.

The two men were riding the bike when the suspect murdered his co-rider, said the official.

“Both men had business in IT and the dispute arose from that, the victim’s wife told police,” the official said, adding that Goncharov was in Cambodia for about six months while Sidorov was in the country for “less than a week”.

On November 5, a 28-year-old man from the city of Petrozavodsk was arrested in St Petersburg over Goncharov’s murder. The suspect’s city of origin and age matches a copy of Sidorov’s passport.

Vitaly Konovalov, a spokesman for the Republic of Karelia’s investigative committee, said he could not currently confirm the suspect’s identity.

Konovalov said earlier he believed Russian authorities acted independently, identifying the suspect after an appeal from the victim’s family.