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.
Tensions in the
Black Sea region are running high because of the separatist conflict in eastern
