Ukraine War Update – 1 March 2015

Sunday, March 1, 2015  6:32 AM PST

Does this young model hold the key to the killers at the Kremlin? Ukrainian was with Russian opposition leader when he was gunned down in 'politically-motivated murder'

• Anna Duritskaya was with charismatic opposition leader when he was shot
• Ukrainian model, who was not injured, was questioned by police for hours
• Last night friends feared Russian authorities were pointing finger at her
• Mr Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times in drive-by in view of the Kremlin

   (Daily Mail) --- Key witness: Anna Duritskaya was with top Russian politician Boris Nemtsov when he

Anna Duritskaya

was shot dead

   A beautiful Ukrainian model may hold the key to identifying the assassins who gunned down top Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.

   Anna Duritskaya, 23, was with the charismatic pro-Western reformer when he was killed in a drive-by shooting in view of the Kremlin as they walked home from a restaurant in Red Square on Friday evening.

   Ms Duritskaya, who was not injured, was questioned by police for several hours and only released at 5am yesterday.

   Last night, friends of the couple said they feared the Russian authorities were trying to implicate Ms Duritskaya in what is believed to be a politically motivated murder. One said: ‘She is the victim of appalling innuendo as she grieves. It looks like a smear.’

   Even as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Angela Merkel, condemned the killing of one of President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics, pro-Kremlin media organisations were hinting darkly that Ms Duritskaya’s ‘role’ needed to be ‘clarified’.

   One Putin-supporting online newspaper, Life News, reported that she had recently had an abortion and suggested – with no evidence to back up the claim – that the couple might have had a row.

   It quoted a ‘high-ranking’ state investigator as saying: ‘The girl who accompanied Boris Nemtsov at the moment of his murder is a citizen of Ukraine.

   ‘We have found out that not long ago she flew from Moscow to Switzerland to abort a baby fathered by the politician. We do not exclude…a conflict in their private life.’

   Mr Nemtsov, 55, died hours after appealing for support for a march today in Moscow against the war in Ukraine. He had openly opposed Russia’s role in the conflict and the annexation of Crimea.

   Yesterday, flowers were laid at the spot where he died, and today’s rally is to be replaced by a mourning procession.

   Mr Nemtsov, a father of four, was hit in the back by four bullets fired from an unmarked car, which then sped away.

   Quizzed by authorities: Ms Duritskaya (right), who was not injured, was questioned by police for several hours following the death of Boris Nemtsov (left)  and only released at 5am yesterday

   His body lay in falling snow for an hour before it was placed in a black body bag and taken away. Mr Nemtsov’s lawyer, Vadim Prohorov, said he believed the motive for the shooting was Mr Nemtsov’s opposition to Mr Putin and the war in Ukraine. The lawyer said his client had suffered constant harassment.

   ‘A toilet was thrown at his car, ammonia was poured over it and eggs thrown at it,’ Mr Prohorov said.

GUNNED DOWN BY PUTIN'S GANGSTERS

By Ian Birrell 

   Boris Nemtsov knew he might one day be silenced. Now the shocking pictures of his body prostrate in the shadow of the Kremlin is a chilling symbol of Vladimir Putin’s gangster style of presidency.

   It is almost irrelevant whether Putin personally ordered the killing or merely created the circumstances in which critics of his rapacious regime and adventurism in Ukraine are gunned down in cold blood.

   For Nemtsov’s courageous and consistent criticism of Putin is underscored now in his own blood. I spent time with this charming and charismatic politician during the brief flickering of the ‘Russian Spring’ in 2011 and 2012, protests that rattled Putin.

   He told me he saw it as his patriotic duty to oppose a regime leading the nation to ruin.

   ‘People are tired of corruption, tired of criminals, tired of Putin’s brutality and stupid remarks,’ he said. But while impatient for change, he was scared of seeing street unrest turn into another explosive revolution.

   ‘Peaceful protest is the way to separate Putin from the people,’ he said.

   I watched as he grew frustrated in chaotic meetings of people leading the protests – then joined him in a television studio as he had to apologise for belittling supporters as ‘scared penguins’ in bugged phone calls leaked to the media.

   Yet Nemtsov’s own bravery could not be faulted. As other opposition leaders were jailed, exiled or placed under house arrest, he continued to campaign against the former KGB chief who runs his country like a mafia boss.

   His death came hours after a radio interview denouncing Putin’s ‘mad, aggressive’ policies and on the eve of a rally today against the war in Ukraine.

   Nemtsov was working on a report highlighting Russia’s involvement in the separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine.

   These were dangerous activities amid the ugly mood of nationalism inflamed by Putin.

   Smear lists of ‘traitors’ and ‘fifth columnists’ are bandied around by broadcasters and on the internet, Nemtsov’s name always among them.

   Few doubt killings such as this bear the hallmarks of the old KGB – just as the mysterious bombings of residential buildings that began three weeks after Putin became prime minister, sparking his savage onslaught in Chechnya, also did.

   Many admirers of Nemtsov’s articulacy, good looks and liberal reforms expected him to get the top job after Boris Yeltsin appointed him deputy prime minister in 1997.

   How different Russia might be today if Nemtsov had won the keys to the Kremlin.

   Instead he is dead, testament to the darkness that has descended on his great nation under Putin.

   ‘A few months ago, threats started coming in on social media, which prompted us to contact the law

enforcement authorities. But I think it’s unlikely that those who did this would have given any warnings.’

   Last night, Ms Duritskaya’s mother Inna told how the model called her from the scene.

   ‘She was crying and saying that Boris had been killed. I was shocked. I think I told her to wait for the police and to answer their questions.’

   She confirmed that the model had had an abortion, saying: ‘Yes, I knew about it. But I did not argue with her or with Boris about this.’

   Ms Duritskaya was pregnant in December 2013 and Mr Nemtsov paid for her to go to Switzerland for the termination.

   In 1998, when Mr Putin headed the Russian security service the FSB, Mr Nemtsov was assaulted by a group of leather-jacketed thugs in a Moscow restaurant while dining with his wife Raisa and a Western correspondent. He told his guests that the men were ‘provocateurs’ – but when police arrived, they ejected Mr Nemtsov and his wife from the restaurant and let the attackers go free.

   As a young man, Mr Nemtsov was praised as a free-market reformer by Margaret Thatcher when she visited Nizhny Novgorod, an industrial town 260 miles from Moscow, where he was regional governor in the 1990s.

   He had been in a relationship with Ms Duritskaya for several years and the couple divided their time between Moscow and the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. A friend called Yulia said: ‘They met three years ago and fell in love. They began living together almost immediately.’

   It is believed that Mr Nemtsov remained married to Raisa, 56.

   Last night, police claimed to have found the car used in the attack, amid reports that Ms Duritskaya had given them a clear description of the vehicle. It is thought to be a white Ford Focus or Mondeo.

   The Kremlin said the Russian state had no reason to kill a figure who had lost much of his political influence.

   ‘With all respect to Boris Nemtsov, he did not pose any threat in the political sphere… for the Russian authorities or for Vladimir Putin,’ said a spokesman. ‘If we compare his popularity ratings with the government’s… Nemtsov was quite an average citizen.’ Yet, the Kremlin condemned the murder as a ‘provocation’ and said Mr Putin had expressed condolences to Mr Nemtsov’s family and friends.

   Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko drew a link between the killing and the conflict in the east of his country between his government troops and pro-Russian separatists. He claimed Mr Nemtsov had been killed because of his role as a ‘bridge’ between Moscow and Kiev.

   Unlike many prominent Russian politicians, Mr Nemtsov did not employ bodyguards, even though he had predicted his own death.

   Earlier this month he said: ‘I’m afraid Putin will kill me. I believe he was the one who unleashed the war in Ukraine.

   ‘I couldn’t dislike him more.’

   Hours before he was gunned down he said in a radio interview: ‘The country needs political reform. When power is concentrated in the hands of one person and this person rules for ever, this will lead to absolute catastrophe.’

   Mr Nemtsov had four children with Raisa and two other partners, one of whom is Ekaterina Odintsova, 42, a former TV presenter and now editor-in-chief of OK! magazine in Russia. She said: ‘We loved him – he was an example for us. I cannot express my grief.’

Sunday, March 1, 2015  5:59 AM PST

Boris Nemtsov's Murder. surveillance camera VIDEO

   (Censor.NET) --- Russian TVC channel has published online a video from the all-weather surveillance camera which films Moskvoretskiy bridge around the clock.

   The channel of the Moscow government ТVC has published online a video from the all-weather surveillance camera, which filmed the moment of Boris Nemtsov's murder.
   "The crime was recorded precisely. The footage is of low quality, but the cars and people's silhouettes can be seen," the description reads.

   The video recorded Nemtsov walking over the bridge with a lady. Then a truck passed by. On 23.31 p.m. the truck concealed the people from the camera. Nemtsov was supposedly killed in that moment.
   On 23.42 p.m. police officers arrived to the crime scene.

   Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was shot dead from a passing car late Friday night on Moskvoretskiy Bridge in downtown Moscow.

Sunday, March 1, 2015  3:37 AM PST

Eight Ukrainian soldiers wounded. No one killed

   (Censor.NET) --- Ukrainian soldiers suffered no losses in the ATO area over the last 24 hours.

Andrii Lysenko, speaker of the NSDC, announced today at a briefing, Censor.NET reports.
"Eight Ukrainian soldiers were wounded and no one was killed over the past 24 hours," Lysenko said

Sunday, March 1, 2015  2:43 AM PST

OSCE reports about withdrawal of six 'DPR' and 'LPR' convoys of heavy weapons

   (Censor.NET) --- The observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reported on withdrawal of six convoys of heavy weapons belonging to the 'DPR' and 'LPR' militants.

   Censor.NET reports citing the SMM's report.

   "The SMM monitored four separate 'Donetsk People's Republic' convoys. In each instance, the SMM was escorted by 'DPR' to meet a pre-assembled convoy", the mission's report reads.

   The first meeting spot was 5km east of Donetsk city; this convoy consisted of five Grad Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), one BTR-80 Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and military-style trucks and vans. The second meeting spot was in Karlo-Marksove ('DPR'-controlled, 39km north-east of Donetsk); this convoy consisted of four Grad MLRS and one Ural truck.

   The SMM also saw other military vehicles in 'DPR'-controlled areas. This included one unmarked T-64 tank, proceeding east along the main road from Donetsk city towards Makiivka ('DPR'-controlled, 12km east of Donetsk). The SMM saw one unmarked T-72 tank loaded on a parked trailer, 11km south-east of Donetsk city. In Ilovaisk ('DPR'-controlled, 30km south-east of Donetsk), the SMM saw eight unmarked military-style trucks and three busses, all carrying people in military uniforms, driving south.

   Separately, also near Ilovaisk, the SMM saw 60 white trucks bearing 'Humanitarian Aid from the Russian Federation' signs.

   According to the report, the SMM was asked by the 'LPR' to monitor two convoys. "The first was met in Brianka (45km west of Luhansk, "LPR"-controlled), where the SMM saw one APC, four 122mm self-propelled howitzers, five Grad MLRS, and one military-style truck. The second convoy consisted of four towed 152mm howitzers and one truck, met by the SMM 7km south of the center of Luhansk", the SMM writes. The SMM followed these convoys away from the contact line. However, the 'LPR' prohibited the SMM from following either of these convoys to their end-points.

Sunday, March 1, 2015  2:04 AM PST

Walk in memory of Nemtsov to be held downtown Moscow today

   (Censor.NET) --- Walk commemorating Russian opposition leader Nemtsov, shot dead on Friday, will be held today in Moscow

   Censor.NET reports referring to Echo Moskvy.

   50 000 march from Kitaigorodskii Proezd St. trough Moskvoretskaya Embankment to Bolshoy and Malyi Moskvoretsky Bridges was agreed with the authorities.
   The march will start at Gathering of participants will start at 3 p.m. (2 p.m. Kyiv time). Oppositional meeting in Maryino District, organized among others by Nemtsov, has been canceled.

Sunday, March 1, 2015  12:01 AM PST

Terrorists fired at Avdiivka from tank and grenade launcher

   (Censor.NET) --- There were no militants’ attacks registered in the ATO zone during the night.

   At the same time, the militants fired at Ukrainian army's positions from small arms for about five times, from 6 p.m. till 12 a.m. on Feb.28.

   Censor.NET reports citing the ATO press center.
   According to the report, the terrorists attacked Shyrokine village in the Mariupol sector at 6.20 p.m. The village of Luhanske near Debaltseve town was attacked twice, at 7.30p.m and 9.45 p.m.
   Avdiivka town in the Donetsk sector was fired from tank and grenade launcher about midnight.

Saturday, February 28, 2015  15:58 PST

Militants intensified shelling in Donetsk sector

   (Censor.NET) --- Despite the general decrease of enemy fire at ATO forces positions in the Luhansk, Mariupol and Debaltseve sectors, the separatists intensified shelling in the Donetsk sector.

This was announced by the ATO press center, Censor.NET reports.
"The terrorists periodically fired at the ATO forces positions during the day. In particular, Avdiivka town was shelled by the criminals with artillery and tanks around 11 a.m. Opytne village was also shelled four times from mortars and grenade launchers. Enemy fire was reported near the villages of Berezove, Pisky, and Vodiane," the statement reads.