Colonel of Federal Security Service: Follow the news – which of Putin’s associates will "suddenly" die in a car accident, plane crash, or while hunting
Natalia DVALI
Editor
The Russian investigation announced the main suspects of the murder of the oppositional politician Boris Nemtsov. These are Zaur Dadayev and Beslan Shavanov. The former was detained in the territory of Ingushetia, the latter, according to the official version, blew himself up by a grenade in Grozny when the police were trying to arrest him. Both of them served in the elite Sever battalion of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs; it was formed in 2006 under personal patronage of the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The other men detained – Anzor and Shagid Gubashev (Dadayev’s second cousins), Ramzat Bakhaev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov (former officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya) – are accused complicity in the crime.
Once the names of Nemtsov’s presumed killers were announced, a war of arguments and counterarguments broke out in the Russian media space. Rosbalt with a reference to its sources stated that Zaur Dadayev confessed to organizing and performing the murder. The main motives were allegedly Nemtsov’s negative statements about Muslims and their religion. The oppositionist’s associates insist that he has never allowed himself sharp statements about Islam. Dadayev’s mother Aymani said in the comment to the RBC agency that her son was not able to commit a crime, especially out of religious beliefs, "Zaur was not a very religious person, he worked very much. He has awards, he fought against Wahhabi. It is a mistake". Later, Dadayev confirmed in his interview to Moskovskij Komsomolets that he confessed to the murder only because the law enforcement agents threatened him and his friend Ruslan Yusupov who was in the same car during the arrest, "I thought that when they bring me to Moscow, I will tell the whole truth in court. That I am innocent. But the judge did not even let me say a word".
Despite the multitude of controversial information, it is obvious that the investigation has focused on the Chechen trace and makes it clear that there were no high-ranking officials behind Nemtsov’s murder and that it was Dadayev’s personal initiative. "There are other people involved, and they are from Putin’s immediate environment," a retired colonel of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said in the comment to the GORDON . He asked not to disclose his name. My interviewee served in Russian after the collapse of the USSR, he retired and came back home to Ukraine two years ago in 2013. The FSB colonel maintains that his former command was involved in the organization of Nemtsov’s murder.
Nemtsov’s real killers have been liquidated
– Do you believe that the Russian investigation has arrested real killers of Nemtsov?
– All the arrested Chechens have mothers, wives, and children, so they will have to confess to the murder sooner or later if they want their relatives to remain safe. The story of Muslims hurt by Nemtsov is idiotic itself, it is intended for the Russian consumer. A killer who carried out the murder of a politician of such level can live as long as he is allowed to live. I think that Nemtsov’s real killers have already been liquidated.
Russian investigation considers the deputy commander of the Sever battalion Zaur Dadayev to be the main organizer and perpetrator of the murder. When Dadayev was arrested in the territory of Ingushetia he admitted his guilt, however, he renounced his words later in Moscow. "I was chained and had a bag on the head for two days, Dadayev said in an interview. They kept shouting, "Did you kill Nemtsov?" I answered that I did not. At the moment of arrest I was with my friend and former subordinate Ruslan Yusupov. They said that if I confess they will set him free. I agreed. I thought that I would save him and will come to Moscow alive. Otherwise, there would be what happened to Shavanov". Screenshot of video by The Inform News
– Who do you think shot the oppositional politician?
– Everything that took place in the evening February 27 should be divided into several parts. Firstly, the scene of the murder is Bolshoi Moskvoretskiy Bridge that is very near the Kremlin and surrounded by video, photo and audio equipment.
– So, the statement that video cameras did not work at the moment of Nemtsov’s murder is either a lie or a dodge of the investigators?
– There are the so-called closed posts at the beginning and at the end of Moskvoretskiy Bridge; officers are on duty there 24 hours seven days a week, there are operators, every second of the input video is controlled, there is also an emergency group that is ready to act and block suspicious persons at all times.
– Who exactly are considered "suspicious"?
– If you start taking pictures or filming something in the safety zone, you will be checked immediately. Besides, secret service agents in civilian clothes constantly walk along the bridge. These may be street cleaners, or a couple of lovers, or a mother with a pram, whatever – their mission is to watch for specific marks, suspicious bags, etc. on the bridge. Everybody who lives or works in the buildings four or five blocks around the Kremlin are registered and watched.