MOSCOW — Two men were detained in connection with last week’s killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, the head of Russia’s federal security service said Saturday. But the identification of suspects did little to quell lingering questions about the motive for the crime.
Alexander Bortnikov said on Russian state television that the two men — Anzor Kubashev and Zaur Dadayev, who are residents of the North Caucasus region — were detained in the criminal case concerning Nemtsov’s death. Russian investigative service spokesman Vladimir Markin later told the Russian news service Interfax that the two men were “responsible for the organization and perpetration of Nemtsov’s killing.”
But authorities have released few details about the two men they say were responsible for Nemtsov’s death or why they allegedly shot one of Russia’s most prominent Kremlin critics.
Nemtsov, 55, was walking on a bridge Feb. 27 near the Kremlin with a female companion when he was shot by an unidentified gunman. Russia’s Interior Ministry said Nemtsov was killed by four shots to the back. Surveillance footage broadcast on a Moscow television station the next day showed the assailants disappearing in a car. Interfax cited an unidentified source Saturday saying that the car was identified quickly and that “biological materials” in it helped lead investigators to the suspects.
The federal security service has suggested no motive for the attack on Nemtsov, just days before he was scheduled to lead an “anti-crisis” march in Russia. But several theories have been circulating.
Some members of the Russian opposition have voiced the suspicion that the Kremlin was involved in the attack, which happened in one of the most heavily policed areas in the country. It took 11 minutes for an emergency vehicle to arrive on the scene.
Kremlin officials have framed the assassination as a “provocation” to discredit Russian President Vladimir Putin and foment social discord.
Russian officials have also floated several theories for the killing that ignore Nemtsov’s political differences with the Kremlin.
Russia’s investigative committee has said it is looking into possible connections between Nemtsov’s death and Islamic extremism, the Ukrainian conflict, Nemtsov’s condemnation of the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris and his many personal and business relationships. It said it would also consider the possibility that Nemtsov had been a “sacrificial victim” — a none-too-subtle suggestion, akin to the Kremlin’s, that one of his allies killed him to smear the Kremlin.
A report in the Russian tabloid LifeNews even suggested Nemtsov’s murder might have been connected to a recent alleged abortion his companion had sought.
The companion, 23-year-old Ukrainian model Anna Duritskaya, told the Russian independent television station Dozhd that she saw neither the gunman nor the make, model or plates of the car that approached them.
Nemtsov’s allies have expressed doubt that those responsible for his death will be brought to justice, but some offered cautious hope Saturday that the detentions would lead to positive developments in the case.
As one of the country’s most prominent Kremlin critics, Nemtsov belonged to a group that has felt increasingly targeted by Putin’s rhetoric. Many attribute his killing to the toxic atmosphere that has developed since Putin warned a year ago of “a fifth column” and “national traitors” undermining Russia from within.
Nemtsov had told Russia’s Sobesednik news site last month that he and his relatives feared Putin might try to have him killed because of his efforts to prove Russia’s responsibility for the war in eastern Ukraine. After his assassination, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko surmised that that was the reason for it.
Russian officials have denied that Russia is involved in the Ukrainian conflict between pro-government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Last week, Putin called Nemtsov’s slaying a “disgrace,” adding that Russia had to rid itself of high-profile crimes and political murders.