Queensland Police have refused to be drawn on the impetus for offering a $250,000 reward to find the people who killed ex-KGB colonel Gennadi Bernovski at his home on the Gold Coast nearly two decades ago, saying it was simply a bid to crack a “cold case”.

Mr Bernovski died in a hail of bullets outside his luxury Benowa Waters home on July 25, 2000.

Detective Inspector Mark Hogan and Police Minister Mark Ryan Credit:Alison Brown

Police were asked if the former Russian operative was an Australian citizen at the time of his murder, but declined to say.

Some family members of Mr Bernovski are understood to be living in Australia at undisclosed locations.