Police escort Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, one of five suspects in the killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. Photo / AP
One of two men accused of murdering Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov is a decorated former soldier who once received a bravery award issued by the Kremlin.
Zaur Dadayev and Anzor Gubashev, both from Russia's troubled North Caucasus region, were charged with Nemtsov's killing at Moscow's Basmanny Court.
In an extraordinary statement posted on his Instagram account yesterday, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-loyal leader of Chechnya, said Dadayev was known to him as "fearless and brave" and a "patriot of Russia" who was "ready to give his life for the Motherland", serving as the deputy commander of a Russian interior ministry battalion based in Grozny.
Kadyrov also praised another suspect in the murder who reportedly blew himself up with a grenade as police surrounded him in the Chechen capital on Saturday, saying that he was "as brave a warrior" as Dadayev.
Nemtsov, a former deputy Prime Minister and a sharp critic of Vladimir Putin, was shot dead as he walked on a bridge near the Kremlin with his girlfriend on February 27, prompting a worldwide outcry.
Kadyrov hinted at an emerging motive that could be assigned to Dadayev, saying the suspect was a deeply religious person who was shocked by the Muhammad cartoons in Charlie Hebdo, the Parisian magazine, and support for printing them.
Last week Russia's Investigative Committee floated one of its main theories for Nemtsov's murder as revenge for comments he made in the wake of the murder of 11 people by Islamist gunmen at the Charlie Hebdo offices in January. Nemtsov wrote in a blog post two days after the attack that the world was witnessing an "Islamic inquisition" and those who blamed the magazine's cartoonists were "justifying murder".
However, the politician's friends suspect this explanation for the murder, believing it could be a smokescreen to hide the fact Nemtsov was assassinated for his public denigrations of Putin and other officials.
The judge at the court hearing said Dadayev had confessed to the murder under questioning. Kadyrov said if the alleged killer was found guilty it was a grave crime, "but I would like to note once again that he could not make a step against Russia for which he risked his own life for many years".
The comments highlighted Kadyrov's own delicate dance with Islam and the Kremlin. A former rebel fighting for Chechen independence, he went over to Russia and has since led its battle against Islamist militants in the region, using outfits such as the North battalion where Dadayev served, a unit made up of mostly ethnic Chechen fighters and commanded by one of Kadyrov's relatives. Yet while the Chechnya leader rails against Isis (Islamic State) and other fundamentalists, he has his own deeply conservative Muslim views and organised a rally of hundreds of thousands of people in Grozny to protest against the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in January.
Kadyrov also rails constantly against anti-Kremlin activists, describing them as agents of Western intelligence services.
Analysts say the Kremlin tolerates Kadyrov because of his successes in suppressing militants in Chechnya, but there are concerns he could get out of control. Several opponents of his rule have been assassinated abroad.
Three other men - Shagid Gubashev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev - were formally arrested yesterday as suspects in the murder at Basmanny Court. All five were remanded in custody.
During the hearing, three of the men tried to hide their faces while Dadayev looked defiantly at media cameras and raised his index finger, in a gesture often associated with Islamists.
Meanwhile, in Chechnya, a sixth suspect, Beslan Shavanov, blew himself up with a grenade as police tried to detain him, Russian media said, citing law enforcement sources. Officers surrounded the man at an apartment in Grozny on Saturday but he was killed, by a hand grenade that he detonated or which exploded as he tossed it towards them, according to the reports. That claim will also be met with scepticism.
The two charged men were reportedly detained in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya. Officials have suggested they are suspected hitmen and that the masterminds behind the murder are still at large.
Competing rumours had already emerged that the arrested men from the Caucasus could be fall guys, or killers associated with pro-Moscow authorities in the region.
Aymani Dadayeva, Dadayev's mother, confirmed to Russian media her son had served for 10 years in the North battalion. His sister, Tamara, said in a television interview her brother had received a state bravery award in 2010 that was approved by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's then President, as well as medals for his military service from Kadyrov.
LifeNews, a tabloid news website with links to Russian police and security services, said Anzor Gubashev was a security guard at a supermarket in the Moscow region. The site published video footage of the home he shared with his brother, Shagid, in Odintsovo district and of the two men during a recent visit to their grandmother in Ingushetia. Shagid Gubashev was reportedly a truck driver.
In televised comments, Mrs Dadayeva said she believed her son was innocent. "Please understand correctly," she said. "He served honourably and very bravely in the army of the Chechen Republic, for Russia. Please find the killer. This is a mistake, a very big mistake. He could not have done this."
Dissident's bleak view of Russia
Hours before he was assassinated, dissident Boris Nemtsov was interviewed by Newsweek's Michal Kacewicz.
Q. The opposition takes to the streets, but the regime holds on tight as ever. Is Russia going to change?
A. For now, we're drowning. Everyone. Due to the policy of Vladimir Putin, a country with unparalleled potential is sinking, an economy which accumulated untold currency reserves is collapsing.
Q. Even if tens of thousands were to march in Moscow, it would still be nothing compared with the 80 per cent of Russians who support Putin.
A. I have no doubt that the struggle for the revival of Russians will be tough. But they still believe in the leader because for the past several years, the leader was doing one thing very well: he was brainwashing the Russians. He implanted them with a virus of inferiority complex towards the West, the belief that the only thing we can do to amaze the world is use force, violence and aggression. There is less and less time to wake up.
Q. Why?
A. Because Russia quickly turns into a fascist state. We already have the propaganda modelled after Nazi Germany.
Q. Many Russian citizens feel that the Government is creating order and stabilisation, because there is the leader and there is structure. And the opposition? Who is the leader?
A. I am one of the leaders of the United Democratic opposition. In our ranks there are many bold and charismatic people, representing different views and political options. But we share a desire for change, and a need for the restoration of democracy and for the removal of these madmen from power. The most important thing is the idea of great change and renewal of Russia.
- Telegraph Group Ltd, Independent
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