Shurpayev, a reporter from Russia's volatile North Caucasus republic of Daghestan who worked for Russia's state-run Channel One TV station, was found stabbed and strangled in his rented Moscow apartment on March 21.
The Tajik authorities made the claim after questioning two men arrested in the country on March 29-30 in connection with the murder.
"The murder of Ilyas Shurpayev was a purely routine crime committed for the purpose of robbery," Mukhamadali Shafoatov, an aide to the Tajik interior minister, told the press in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
Masrurdzhon Yatimov, 24, and Nadzhmiddin Mukhiddinov, 20, said they had not planned to kill Shurpayev, but they had been forced to do so after the Russian journalist resisted their attempts to rob him, the Tajik Interior Ministry official said.
He also said that Shurpayev had recently received 150,000 rubles ($6,400) from Daghestan in a money transfer and that the suspects had decided to steal this.
Yatimov, believed to be the main suspect in the murder, said he had met the reporter on March 12 and that Shurpayev had offered him money for sex.
After killing him, the two men set fire to Shurpayev's apartment. However, the blaze was put out before it could spread, and Russian police later discovered him with a belt around his neck and multiple stab wounds.
A third man, Mukhiddinov's brother, was also arrested by Tajik authorities. Although he did not participate in the murder, he is believed to have known about it and may now be charged with failure to report a serious crime.
The Tajik Interior Ministry spokesman said the extradition of Yatimov and Mukhiddinov to Russia would be considered by the two countries' prosecutor generals under the 1993 Minsk Convention.
On the same day that Shurpayev's body was found, Gadzhi Abashilov, the head of Daghestan's state-run television station, was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his car.
Russia remains one of the world's most dangerous countries for reporters. According to data from the international organization Reporters Without Borders, 21 journalists were murdered in Russia between 2000 and 2007.
