The 23-year-old Ukrainian model who was with opposition leader Boris Nemtsov when he was killed Friday tearfully recounted Monday their last dinner in a chic Red Square restaurant and their walk on a nearby bridge — but said she did not see the gunman who pulled the trigger.
The emotional account by Anna Duritskaya came amid a swirl of speculation about who was responsible for the high-profile assassination and what it means for Russia.
While state-run media focused on a theory that the killing was a provocation aimed at staining President Vladimir Putin, his critics hold the Russian leader responsible for creating an atmosphere that encouraged the crime by fanning nationalist, anti-Western sentiments and vilifying the opposition.
Duritskaya said in an interview with Russia’s independent Dozhd television that she waited for Nemtsov to meet her Friday night at the Bosco Cafe, a pricey restaurant in the former GUM department store on Red Square. He had just given a radio interview in which he slammed Putin’s “mad, aggressive policy” on Ukraine.
They dined and then walked across a bridge, heading for Nemtsov’s apartment across the Moscow River, she said.
Duritskaya said didn’t see the man who shot Nemtsov, only a car speeding up.
“I don’t know where he came from, but he was behind,” she said of the gunman. “I didn’t see the man. I turned round and all I saw was a light-colored car.”
After Nemtsov was shot, she said, she saw a snowplow approaching on the bridge and asked its driver how to call police. The driver gave her the number, then drove away, she said.
TV Center, a station controlled by the Moscow city government, broadcast a poor-resolution video from a web camera that it said showed Nemtsov and Duritskaya shortly before he was killed. A vehicle that TVC identified as a snowplow moved slowly behind the couple, obscuring the view of the shooting. TV Center then circled what it said was the suspected killer jumping into a passing car.
The video contradicted the initial statement by police, who said Nemtsov was shot from a passing car.
Investigators said they are looking into several possible links for Nemtsov’s slaying, including an attempt to destabilize the state, Islamic extremism, the Ukraine conflict and his personal life. They have offered a reward of nearly $50,000 for information.
Tens of thousands of supporters marched Sunday through central Moscow in a silent tribute to Nemtsov.
Putin quickly sent condolences to Nemtsov’s 86-year old mother, promising her that the perpetrators of the “vile and cynical murder” will be brought to justice.
State television stations focused on allegations that Russia’s enemies could be behind the hit, following comments by Putin’s spokesman that the president saw the attack as a “provocation” aimed at destabilizing the country. Chechnya’s Moscow-backed strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, openly blamed Western special services.
Kremlin critics pointed out that the site of the killing is one of the most heavily secured parts of the Russian capital.
“The choice of place in front of the Kremlin … points at the perpetrator’s sense of impunity and his link to law enforcement structures,” opposition lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov wrote in his blog.
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