Boris Nemtsov murder: Pictures emerge of politician's 'killers' in getaway car
NEW pictures have been revealed apparently showing the alleged killers of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, according to claims.
The images were caught on CCTV "not long" before the murder and reportedly show the alleged killers in their getaway car in central Moscow.
But there was also the stunning revelation that the alleged murder gang had been tailing Nemtsov, closely monitoring his movements, since last autumn.
This appears to nullify the claim that his was slain because of his reaction to the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris, a theory given huge prominence in Moscow.
Nemtsov's friends fear he was killed on the orders of a senior figure in the authorities.
Alleged killer Zaur Dadayev - said to be on the left in the car picture - is a personal friend of feared Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
The picture shows a ZAZ-Chance car used as a getaway vehicle after Nemtsov's murder on 27 February.
The exact timing of the image is not given, but last autumn CCTV cameras recorded the car close to Nemtsov's flat in central Moscow, where he was walking with his 23-year-old Ukrainan model girlfriend Anna Duritskaya when he was gunned to death.
Newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets stated: "If we suppose that the suspects had already followed the politician, then the man version collapses because last year the Charlie Hebdo tragedy had not happened."
The car had repeatedly violated parking rules and speed limits since last Spetmeber when it was bought by the alleged killers, who are from Chechnya.
The dramatic development coincided with a new warning that Russian-backed militant fighters are massing close to the Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol.
This is despite a pull-back of heavy armour by both sides in accordance with the latest ceasefire.
If we suppose that the suspects had already followed the politician, then the man version collapses because last year the Charlie Hebdo tragedy had not happened
Kiev military source Dmitry Tymchuk said: "The group consists of 2,500 people, divided into several tactical groups of mixed composition - local rebels and Russian mercenaries."
It has 25 tanks and up to 20 armoured fighting vehicles, he said.
He added: "This strike group is being supported by an artillery group, which has 14 multiple rocket launcher units and around 32-36 artillery guns."
The top US diplomat for Europe warned that parts of eastern Ukraine are living under a "reign of terror", as she accused Putin of unleashing "unspeakable violence and pillage".
"Even as Ukraine is building a peaceful, democratic, independent nation across 93 per cent of its territory, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine are suffering a reign of terror," said Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
"Today Crimea remains under illegal occupation and human rights abuses are the norm, not the exception, for many at risk groups there."
She told the US Senate foreign relations committee: "In eastern Ukraine, Russia and its separatist puppets unleashed unspeakable violence and pillage.
"This manufactured conflict - controlled by the Kremlin, fuelled by Russian tanks and heavy weapons, financed at Russian taxpayers' expense - has cost the lives of more than 6,000 Ukrainians."
It had also killed "hundreds of young Russians sent to fight and die there by the Kremlin, in a war their government denies", she added.
