Russia: Two arrested over Boris Nemtsov murder

Mourners lay flowers at the site near the Kremlin where Boris Nemtsov was killed. Picture: AP

Alexander Bortnikov, in comments shown on state  television, said the two suspects were from Russia’s North Caucasus region, but gave no details other than their names.

He said they were “suspected of carrying out this crime”, but it was not clear whether either of the suspects was believed to have fired the shots that killed Nemtsov as he and a companion walked over a bridge near the Kremlin on 27 February. No charges were immediately announced. Nemtsov’s killing has shocked Russia’s beleaguered and marginalised opposition supporters, many of whom suspect that the killing was ordered by the Kremlin in retaliation for Nemtsov’s outspoken criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

Nemtsov, 55, had been working on a report about Russian military involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict.

But Russia’s top investigative body said it was looking into several possible motives, including that he was killed in an attempt to smear Putin’s image. It also said it was looking into possible connections to Islamic extremism and Nemtsov’s personal life.

Many believe that Nemtsov’s death in a tightly secured area near the Kremlin would not have been possible without  official involvement, and could be an attempt to scare other government enemies. Putin  described Nemtsov’s killing as a “provocation”.

One of Nemtsov’s closest allies in the opposition, Ilya Yashin, said on Facebook after the announcement: “It’s hard to judge whether these are the real performers or if the investigation went down a false track.”

Yashin said: “It’s extremely important that the matter not be limited to detention of the shooters, whether these are the real killers or not.”

He said, “the key task is the identification and detention of who ordered” the attack.

“For the time being, it’s very skimpy information, which tells us little, but it’s good that the first results of the investigation have appeared,” another opposition leader, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, was quoted as telling the news agency Interfax.

In some previous killings of Kremlin critics, especially the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, there has been wide criticism that those who ordered the killing have not been identified or prosecuted.

The North Caucasus region, from which the suspects reportedly come, includes Chechnya, where separatist rebels have fought two wars against Russian forces over the past two decades and which now is under the tight control of Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Kadyrov has been widely criticised for brutality against opponents, including summary executions and abductions, and is a vehement defender of Putin. He has blamed Western security services for Nemtsov’s killing.

The suspects were identified as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev. No further information was given about them, but opposition figures unearthed a statement from the Chechen government from 2010 in which a Zaur Dadaev was among the police troops awarded medals.

Kremlin critics say the spiteful nationalist propaganda  on state television, which cast Nemtsov and other liberals  as Western stooges, helped prepare the ground for his killing.

“The atmosphere of mad aggression created by the state television… has signalled that you could do anything to the people expressing a different view, and this will benefit the Motherland,” said Dmitry Muratov, the editor of the Novaya  Gazeta, a newspaper critical of the Kremlin.