A year ago, on the night of February 27-28, politician and co-chairman of the RPR-Parnas party Boris Nemtsov was shot dead. Over the past period of time, the investigation has managed to make significant progress in the investigation of the murder. However, many details of this case and, first of all, the question of the organizers and customers of the murder are still covered in uncertainty. I propose to recall the key circumstances of the crime, understand its oddities and try to understand who benefited from it and what the preliminary results were.
Circumstances of the murder
Let us briefly recall the main circumstances of what happened. Nemtsov was shot dead late in the evening in the center of Moscow on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, where he was walking with his girlfriend, Ukrainian model Anna Duritskaya. The murder took place on the eve of the opposition march "Spring", the organizer of which was Nemtsov himself. According to the investigation, Nemtsov had been under surveillance for a long time. The killer shot Boris Nemtsov several times in the back, after which he fled in an approaching car.
Already on March 7, the head of the FSB announced the first detainees. Charges of execution of murder were brought against Zaur Dadaev, Anzor and Shadid Gubashev, Temirlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhaev. Another suspect, Beslan Shavanov, died in Grozny during his arrest. The alleged customer and organizer Ruslan Mukhutdinov has been put on the international wanted list.
Initially, the detainees gave confessions, but then they refused them, citing pressure from law enforcement officers.
Experts are conducting the investigation
Such an effective investigation is impressive, considering the media pressure the investigation was constantly subjected to.
And here we should dwell separately on the role of the media, which, wittingly or unwittingly, became active participants in the criminal investigation.
All this year, opposition figures and the media tried to put pressure on law enforcement officers by publishing various unverified information, but strictly one-directional - towards denigrating the investigation.
Everyone was immediately “investigated” by other interested parties for whom there was no other version of events other than their own. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and his entourage were accused of committing a crime - even before the end of the investigation and even before receiving its preliminary results.
From the media and public figures there was no longer criticism as a manifestation of freedom of speech, but direct instructions on what exactly law enforcement should do: interrogate and arrest certain individuals about whom the opposition “knows for sure” that they are guilty. It got to the point that journalists abused their right to freedom of speech and asked leading questions (and in fact, voiced demands) about the actions of the investigation to the president during press conferences. It is surprising how this is consistent with the prohibition against interfering with the administration of the law.
Strange murder: location, unreliable weapon, living witness
Meanwhile, in fact, there were a lot of strange things from the very beginning. For some reason, the numerous above-mentioned experts prefer not to notice them.
Thus, an extremely public place was chosen to commit the crime - in the very center of the capital, not far from the Kremlin. A place where even at night there are always many witnesses and police patrols.
Supporters of the version that Nemtsova decided to punish the authorities for his statements ignore this inconvenient question. According to their logic, the entire opposition, which regularly makes offensive statements about both officials and the people as a whole, should have long ago fallen victim to murderers. But this happened only with one Nemtsov - a politician who represents no real value to the opposition and a threat to the authorities.
There have been cases in the history of Russia when politicians were retaliated against for their investigations or other inconvenient activities that directly threatened the interests of specific individuals. However, Nemtsov has not recently conducted any investigations that would seriously threaten the authorities (and especially those related to Chechnya).
Finally, Nemtsov’s murder occurred right before an opposition march, which before the murder was of no particular interest to anyone. However, after the murder, tens of thousands of people came to the funeral procession, and the West received an excellent reason for anti-Russian rhetoric.
One inevitably recalls the old words of Vladimir Putin about a “sacred victim” who they themselves will kill and then blame the authorities for it.
PR on bones
The further development of events fits exactly into the version of the sacred sacrifice.
It suddenly turned out that the murdered Nemtsov had many friends that he had not even suspected during his lifetime. The death of the politician was cynically used by everyone who was not too lazy to get a dose of PR: fellow party members, the organizers of the “memorial” on the bridge (who for some reason did not organize it at the grave of the deceased) and many others.
It got to the point that the lawyer for the RPR-Parnas party officially tried to recognize the party as the victim in this case.
For reference: according to criminal law, the rights of the victim are transferred to one of the close relatives of the deceased. A legal entity is recognized as a victim if the crime causes damage to its property or business reputation (which does not apply in the case of murder).
Thus, they officially tried to recognize the deceased Nemtsov as the “property” of the party, which clearly crosses all moral boundaries.
Summary and prospects
It is too early to draw final conclusions about the results of the investigation and the perpetrators; the accused, according to the law, is considered innocent until a court verdict. But it is already obvious that real work has been done, which allows the Investigative Committee to talk about solving the case.
At the same time, the part of the case concerning the alleged customer, organizer and other unidentified persons was separated into separate proceedings. This part is the most hidden from prying eyes, and many surprises can pop up here.
Considering the ongoing concerted hysteria around the criminal case, one should be critical of all kinds of sensations from “sources close to the investigation.”
Behind each such information leak there are people who do not hide their interest, and escalating the atmosphere around the investigation is beneficial to those who are not interested in further objective investigation of the case.
A criminal case was opened into the murder. For the investigation, a special investigation team was created, headed by acting. Head of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee for Moscow Alexander Drymanov.
On March 7, 2015, two suspects were detained - Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev. The next day, Gubashev and Dadaev, as well as those suspected of involvement, Khamzat Bakhaev and Temirlan Eskerkhanov, were arrested. Another suspect, Beslan Shavanov, hit himself with a grenade during an attempt to arrest him. Dadaev confessed, citing Nemtsov’s criticism of Islam and Muslims living in Russia as the reason for the murder. The rest of those arrested denied any involvement.
On March 10, Dadaev refused to testify, saying that he gave it under pressure in exchange for a promise that Ruslan Yusupov, who was detained with him, would be released. A repeat inspection carried out the next day by the Public Monitoring Commission did not reveal any traces of torture, and Dadayev allegedly received bruises and traces of handcuffs during his arrest.
On April 1, a representative of the Investigative Committee stated that, according to the results of numerous examinations, testimony of witnesses and the results of searches of apartments, Dadaev’s guilt was confirmed.
On December 1, 2015, the state prosecution finished presenting evidence in the case. On December 29, Zaur Dadaev, Shadid Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhaev and Temirlan Eskerkhanov were finally charged. The investigation concluded that the suspects were planning the murder of Nemtsov under the leadership of Ruslan Mukhudinov, a fighter of the Chechen “North” battalion of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The defendants were offered a reward of “at least 15 million rubles.” and resources were provided for the preparation and implementation of the crime: apartments in Moscow, cars, weapons, mobile phones.
How is the trial going?
Despite the earlier complaint filed by Nemtsov’s daughter Zhanna, the Basmanny court decided to classify this case not as political, but as criminal: causing death for selfish intent. This decision will be appealed later, but the court's decision will remain unchanged. For the same reason, the court did not include the PARNAS political party, whose leader was Nemtsov, among the victims.
A separate case has been opened against the organizers of the crime, one of whom is named Ruslan Mukhudinov. Mukhudinov has been put on the international wanted list. However, the lawyer for the Nemtsov family does not consider this sufficient and claims that “the investigation is not effective and comprehensive.”
According to an investigation by Novaya Gazeta, the real organizer of the crime is Ruslan Geremeev, a former officer of the Sever battalion. As a source familiar with the progress of the investigation told RBC, in July 2016, investigators prepared a project to charge in absentia not only Mukhudinov, but also Geremeev. However, the document was not approved by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, considering that there was not enough evidence for this. He did the same in September. RBC's information about two resolutions unsigned by Bastrykin was confirmed by another interlocutor close to law enforcement agencies. The organizer was eventually named Ruslan Mukhudinov, Geremeev’s driver, who left for the UAE almost immediately after the murder, and the perpetrator was Beslan Shavanov, who died during detention. This version was contradicted by the confessions given by Dadaev. After the interrogation of Dadaev, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, published a post on his Instagram in which he called him a “true patriot” and expressed doubts about his involvement in the murder of Nemtsov.
On July 27, 2016, it became known that the murder case of the politician would be tried by a jury. The first meetings took place on October 3 and 4, 2016. None of the five defendants admitted guilt. The defense made a statement about the falsification of the examination and the substitution of cartridges found at the scene of the incident. The defense also insisted on excluding the surveillance camera footage from the case file, since, according to the lawyer, “there is no examination in the case for the presence of editing,” and Nemtsov and Duritskaya are hardly recognizable in the video.
The court questioned Dmitry Petukhov, the personal driver of the murdered politician. Petukhov said that he did not notice any surveillance or threats, and on the day of the attack Nemtsov was in a good mood. Deputy Chairman of PARNAS Ilya Yashin said that threats to Nemtsov and his family were received regularly and the politician turned to law enforcement agencies for help and protection.
One of the prosecution witnesses, the defendants’ housekeeper Zarina Isoeva, reported telephone threats from an unknown person with a Caucasian accent. The prosecution reported the disappearance of its witness, Sergei Budnikov, the driver of a snowplow that was passing in close proximity to the murder scene at the time of the crime.
On February 15, 2017, a folder with materials on the case was stolen from the car of the lawyer of one of the defendants. According to him, this will create some obstacles to the proceedings, since the materials will have to be collected anew.
Versions
Officially, during the investigation it was not established exactly why Boris Nemtsov was killed. There are several versions.
The first version was voiced by the main person involved in the case, Zaur Dadaev. He stated that the reason was the politician’s numerous negative statements about Islam and Muslims; notably his public endorsement of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in 2015. However, the investigation found this version unfounded, since, according to the evidence collected, preparations for the murder began in September 2014.
Another version, which was developed by the investigation, cast suspicion on the relatives and possible heirs of Nemtsov’s fortune. After interrogating all those involved and witnesses, it did not develop.
The Investigative Committee also checked other versions, for example, “related to Nemtsov’s commercial activities and personal hostility towards him.”
December 14, 2015 deputy chairman of the PARNAS party Ilya Yashin published an open letter to Ramzan Kadyrov, in which he stated that “the traces of the reprisal against my comrade lead straight to the official offices of Grozny.”
Nemtsov himself some time before the murder stated, that his actions and statements cause great discomfort to the authorities, that the level of danger for him will grow, and President Putin “has finally chosen a policy of repression and terror.”
Press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov called Nemtsov’s murder a “provocation”: “And against the backdrop of various, let’s say, events that the opposition is planning in the coming days, against the backdrop of the generally very emotional, intense situation that we have in connection with the events in Ukraine, of course, this may well look like a provocation.” Official representative of the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin
The gist of the report by FSB Director Bortnikov: the perpetrators were a group of Chechen security officials from the Internal Troops (Internal Troops) battalion of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs "North" under the leadership, presumably, of deputy battalion commander Ruslan Geremeev.
On March 5, the following were arrested: Zaur Dadaev, brothers Anzor and Shadid Gubashev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, Khamzat Bakhaev. Beslan Shavanov was killed during arrest.
Three of them are law enforcement officers in Chechnya. Dadaev and Shavanov from the Sever battalion, Eskerkhanov is a retired employee of the Shelkovsky district police department, which is headed by a relative of Ruslan Geremeev and State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov - Vakha Geremeev. Plus to them - Bakhaev, who does not officially work anywhere, and his younger brother Gubashev, who is in the same status.
The speed of solving the crime was obviously stimulated by two factors: the president’s question “Who dared?” and finally working agents in the leadership of the Chechen Republic, the behavior of whose representatives, often with fatal consequences, was catastrophically fed up with the Moscow security forces. Apparently, the murder of Boris Nemtsov has overflowed their patience - it has never happened before that the eternally warring Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Investigative Committee, the Federal Drug Control Service and the Prosecutor General's Office united in a single impulse. And it’s clear why: criminal cases brought to the stage of bringing charges, initiated under serious charges, against Chechen security forces many times ended in nothing, and their defendants were found “under recognizance not to leave” at home or even in the Donbass.
Operational shooting. In the center is Ruslan Geremeev. In the foreground is Tamerlan Eskerkhanov. At the Ukraina Hotel the day before the murder
Why didn't they hide the evidence?
In fact, the perpetrators, who will soon appear before a jury, did not go into hiding, apparently assuming that they would not be prosecuted for the “order of the Motherland.” No one collected the shell casings from the crime scene. No one was hiding from the CCTV cameras. Even the car - a ZAZ - was washed before the murder, and not after, which made it possible to find genetic material, traces of powder gases and an “uncleaned” video recorder in it, and in the apartment that the suspects rented - SIM cards that no one was going to throw away.
The arrested citizens, apparently, were so shocked by the very fact of detention that they almost immediately gave confessions on video. And in these videos it is not noticeable that anyone had a black eye under their eyes, or a champagne bottle sticking out of their ass (which the suspects later came to their senses about). Moreover, these initial testimonies were confirmed during a special investigative event called “verification of testimonies on the spot”: under the video, citizens of Dadaev and Co. actively and in detail tell where they stood, where they walked, how they were followed and killed. As a result, the Investigative Committee has confessional statements from Zaur Dadaev, Anzor Gubashev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, which, with the appearance of other lawyers, the interrogated began to refute. However, the reliability of the first and subsequent interrogations will be assessed by the jury, but for now it’s enough for us that they exist.
Photo from the archive What are officers from Chechnya doing at the President Hotel?
The question arises: what are internal troops officers doing in Moscow, who are supposed to serve in a completely different region of Russia? The answer has been hanging on the surface for more than ten years now. Chechnya is the only subject of the Federation whose leadership is allowed to maintain a group of its own security forces in the capital, whose duties, formally, include ensuring the safety of high-ranking officials who come here for various needs. Considering that the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov himself, rarely visits Moscow, additional bewilderment arises: why are these people here, hung with “Stechkin” and equipped with official IDs, including those prohibiting inspection of their cars? After all, no one has ever heard of special forces, for example, from the Yaroslavl region, which should protect its governor on the days of his arrival in the capital city. By the way, it was not by chance that this was said about the Yaroslavl region: just a day and a half after the murder of Boris Nemtsov, the head of this region, where the murdered man had won elections to the regional Legislative Assembly, was quickly interrogated - he came himself, on the first call, and not even to visiting Moscow investigators, but to our own, local ones. Kadyrov, despite his knowledge of the murder and the suspects, which he has repeatedly demonstrated on his Instagram, has not yet been questioned, despite a petition from the victims’ lawyers—members of Boris Nemtsov’s family.
So, “law enforcement officers ensuring the safety of high-ranking officials of the Chechen Republic,” who are based in the “President Hotel”, opposite the Ministry of Internal Affairs, by this time managed to scare away all the guests with stretched sweatpants and sweatshirts, over which you can see any kind of weapon - from daggers to submachine guns.
But only privileged employees of the Chechen security forces walk along the corridors of the VIP hotel on the corner of Yakimanka. Tactical groups of Chechen security forces work in Moscow on a rotational basis: several months and then a shift. They, as a rule, rent apartments on the outskirts and huddle there, their task is particularly delicate assignments. They are: kidnappings, murders, extortion. During the break between establishing constitutional order in Moscow, the above-mentioned citizens lived in the now closed Prague restaurant, calling there girls of easy virtue, who were then treated for a long time in Moscow clinics for various types of physical injuries.
Delicate orders, as a rule, are discussed in the lobby bar of the Renaissance-Slavyanskaya hotel, the Tatler restaurant, in the Ukraine hotel, and in various other pretentious places where majors and captains of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
It was in these places that from September 2014 to February 2015, the current suspects were repeatedly seen in company with the deputy commander of the “North” battalion, Ruslan Geremeev. Various people came to them with bags, and left with the same bags - only noticeably thinner.
And, as far as we know, one of such delicate assignments (except for the murder of Boris Nemtsov) was carried out, presumably, by the fighters of Geremeev’s tactical group with a bang: from an airplane standing on the runway of the Vnukovo-3 business aviation airport, top manager of Gazprom, who was hired beyond his rank. He returned the money within 24 hours.
By the way, according to our sources in Chechnya, at one time Zaur Dadaev (presumably a killer) headed the personal security of deputy Delimkhanov.
Preparing to kill
On Veernaya Street in Moscow in September 2014, two apartments were rented. One is a relative of Ruslan Geremeev, Artur Geremeev. The other was Geremeev’s driver, Ruslan Mukhutdinov, also an employee of the Sever battalion (in this apartment, by the way, they also saw another Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs officer, Khataev, who, however, is not yet involved in the case). Dadaev and the company settled in the house rented by Ruslan Mukhutdinov and began working on the tender they had put out.
What is a tender in this context? When there is an undesirable object, whose existence spoils the lives of the “right people,” the cry is thrown out among the tactical combat groups entrenched in Moscow: so-and-so for so-and-so. Next: whoever succeeds first gets the money.
In August 2014, a tender was announced for four names: Boris Nemtsov, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Alexey Venediktov, Ksenia Sobchak. The list for Chechnya is surprising, since the republic did not have any financial or political quarrels with these people. Be that as it may, the price is known - 15 million rubles.
After the failure at Bolshoy Moskvoretsky (the killer was arrested), the tender was canceled, but for how long is an open question.
Boris Nemtsov turned out to be an unpleasant target for killers. Firstly, he did not lead a regular life - work - home, but could lock himself in an apartment for several days, go abroad or to Yaroslavl, where he worked as a deputy, and, after all, he loved to ride the metro. So searching for installation data for the “object” took time, especially since it was more pleasant to spend it in Moscow taverns.
The people who announced the tender began to run out of time - with this news, apparently, Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs officer Shavanov appeared at the end of February. Therefore, it was decided to “perform” in any case. Detail: four cars were used for surveillance, including a Mercedes with license plates a007ar, in which Ruslan Geremeev was allegedly driving.
Boris Nemtsov was also monitored using these numbers Execution of murder
On February 27, at about 11:00, the killers “set up” on Malaya Ordynka, where Boris Nemtsov lived, and began to wait. Nemtsov was not there - his car was heading to the supermarket, and its owner himself did not leave the house. Then Nemtsov went on air on Ekho Moskvy at 20:00. The “object” left the house again with the lady at 21:45. He headed towards Red Square. Boris Nemtsov and, as it later became known, Anna Duritskaya had dinner at Bosko Cafe, in the GUM building, around which Anzor Gubashev and Shavanov were hanging out (this can be seen on video recordings from external surveillance cameras), and walked back to Malaya Ordynka along Bolshoy Moskvoretsky bridge. That's where it all happened. Dadaev climbed the stairs, shot in the back five times (not a single shot was wasted - after all, years of training had taken their toll), did not kill the “target’s” companion, got into the ZAZ driven by Anzor Gubashev, and drove away.
There were two “barrels”: one for backup if they were pursued, the other - converted from a traumatized one - for execution. The cartridge cases are from different series of cartridges, and it is clear why: they train at homemade shooting ranges (which were checked by the Investigative Committee in the Moscow region), equipping weapons with cartridges from different batches.
Further, Gubashev and Shavanov leave Moscow through Vnukovo airport on February 28 - CCTV cameras show this. Dadaev and Geremeev, who were holed up in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, are leaving on March 1. I drove them to Mukhutdinov airport. And most likely, it was he who, as the investigation believes, then took the trunks to Chechnya.
To stop the hysteria of the suspects' lawyers, Bakhaev, Eskerkhanov and Shadid Gubashev are not charged with direct participation in the murder, only complicity: hiding evidence, surveillance, transporting group members in their vehicles and frying potatoes for them.
Surveillance of Boris Nemtsov, filming from GUM video camera Arrest and after
The leadership of the Russian security forces, enraged by such impunity, and having also received significant acceleration, expressed in the question “Who?”, launched special operations. A capture group of special forces officers was sent to Chechnya and Ingushetia to arrest the suspects.
But they, the suspects, set themselves up by going to Ingushetia to buy drugs. Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev were caught red-handed by officers of the Federal Drug Control Service of Ingushetia, taken to the local police department and only then “packed” by special forces from Moscow. At the same time, in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, where the suspects were hiding after the murder, other members of the tactical group were detained. By the way. The Gubashevs are relatives of Dadaev, which is a characteristic feature of “Chechen murders” - taking on their own in order to get more for themselves (for example, the case of Anna Politkovskaya).
The only failure occurred with the arrest of Shavanov, who locked himself in his Grozny apartment. One of the deputy ministers of internal affairs of Chechnya (his last name is known to the editors) passed through the perimeter guarded by the federals, after which two explosions were heard, and everyone was told that Shavanov had been blown up by a grenade.
A few days after the arrests, a congress of high-ranking officials took place in the Geremeevs’ ancestral village, Dzhalka. In addition to Ramzan Kadyrov, it was allegedly attended by State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov, Alaudinov - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya, Senator Sulim Geremeev, Shaa Turldaev, who is wanted for the murder of a Chechen oppositionist in Vienna, other comrades and, of course, Ruslan Geremeev.
Dzhalka was surrounded by soldiers of the Sever battalion, and only a few security forces, presumably related to the internal troops and the Federal Security Service, were allowed entry there. Apparently, it was at this meeting that a framework agreement was reached on how to proceed.
As a result, the most that the Moscow security forces could achieve in Chechnya was interviewing relatives of the suspects and collecting general information: born and married.
After the murder
Ruslan Geremeev, under the guise of Ramzan Kadyrov’s groom, traveled through Kaspiysk to the United Arab Emirates. And although at the beginning of March 2015 an order was sent to Chechnya to arrest him and bring him in for interrogation, Chechen FSB agents and police officers found it difficult to answer the question of where the suspect lived in his house in Dzhalka. A little later, Mukhutdinov also left for the UAE.
Immediately after the interrogation of the alleged killer Zaur Dadaev, a video with everything said was made available to the head of Chechnya by someone from the Investigative Committee, who then began to speak in the spirit that Dadaev is a sincere patriot. And two submissions to bring charges against Geremeev in absentia and to put him on the wanted list were not signed by the head of the ICR, Bastrykin.
As a result, an indictment appeared, according to which Geremeev’s driver Ruslan Mukhutdinov, who had 15 million lying around, was named as the organizer of the murder, and was put on the wanted list for this. And all the suspects changed their testimony: now it was the murdered Shavanov who allegedly fired, and he supposedly came up with all this. There is no demand from the other world... As well as from the Emirates, where Mukhutdinov is hiding: it is no coincidence that the alleged killer of the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes, Paul Klebnikov, Kazbek Dukuzov, having served his sentence in the UAE for robbery, calmly returned to Chechnya, despite everything threatening requests from the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office.
As for the suspects who received the “correct” lawyers, attempts to create an alibi for themselves backfired: detailed indications of their places of stay in Moscow only connected these characters more and more with each other, forcing them to assume that other, not entirely legal cases were in their competencies.
Meanwhile, the Geremeev family has gained significant weight. Even on the female side: Ruslan’s sister, Kheda, headed the district social security, which quite likely led to riots by dissatisfied people who claimed that supposedly 70 percent of payments ended up somewhere there, and Vakha Geremeev, the head of the district police department, became the most important person near.
About the motives for the murder
What the defense of the accused is trying to present to the public does not stand up to criticism. As if the main motive was religious, since Nemtsov expressed impartial remarks about the prophet and Allah after the shooting of the employees of the Charlie Hebdo magazine. It's a lie. Firstly, according to the testimony of the suspects, they began preparing the murder long before the January execution of the employees of the French magazine, and secondly, the suspects, explaining their motives, consistently indicated the following: Nemtsov was an oppositionist who was preparing “some kind of march” secondly, he supported Ukraine, thirdly, he was “paid by Obama”, fourthly, he swore at the leader of Russia. How, where and in what way all these actions were carried out, the interrogated people do not explain, obviously because, most likely, they became the object of propaganda processing.
However, such confusing explanations give rise to new questions. Who instilled such thoughts in these people? Who put a “custom” tender with names that do not correspond to the Chechen agenda? What does the former deputy head of the FSO and the current commander of the internal troops of Russia, General Zolotov, know, whose subordinates allegedly went to the “strelka” in Dzhalka, and he himself did not respond to the Investigative Committee’s request about their status for a very long time? Why didn’t the Russian FSO provide recordings from video cameras that line Red Square and the Kremlin walls, and the investigation has to rely only on one video shot by a TVC camera (the municipal camera on the bridge turned out to be facing the sky)? And, finally, why doesn’t even the head of the Investigative Committee allow the deputy commander of the Russian Internal Troops battalion, Ruslan Geremeev, to be interrogated? (Who, by the way, not only returned to Chechnya, but is already speaking out about the murder of Boris Nemtsov in the sense that Dadaev could not have committed it, since he was with him, Geremeev, all the time, and carried out tasks to protect the mythical high-ranking officials of the Chechen administration .) Well, let him say this officially, especially since the only thing (according to Rosbalt) that causes confusion in Geremeev is the presence of Shavanov in Moscow. That is, the general version of the defense: the dead Shavanov killed, and the customer - the inaccessible driver Mukhutdinov - found its visible confirmation.
Nemtsov Boris, Russian politician, oppositionist, co-chairman of foundations and movements, assessor of the regional Duma, was shot dead by a killer February 27, 2015 in the capital of Russia. It happened on one of the Moscow bridges, where he was walking with his lover, a young model from Ukraine Anna Durnitskaya.
Nemtsov killed, latest news
Two years after the death of a prominent person, a group of mercenaries from an organized crime group (OCG) was selected to give the murder of a public figure disliked by the Russian elite a criminal connotation. To be convincing, from the point of view of the authorities, they staged an almost formidable “Chechen affair.”
Moreover, the five detainees were tried (the sixth did not want to surrender and blew himself up with a grenade) not in an ordinary court, but in a military court, apparently because the authorities “appointed” a military man as the customer. We are talking about a former officer of the Sever battalion, Ruslan Mukhudinov. The five in the courtroom cage six months ago did not plead guilty, including in each of their last words. The lawyers promised to prove the same. But there is no news on the Internet about the appeal promised by the lawyers.
Neither Ruslan Mukhudinov nor his brother appeared at the meeting of the Moscow District Military Court.
It may be correct, from the point of view of jurisprudence, that the trial of the high-profile murder was assigned to judges in uniform. But there is no information anywhere about where R. Mukhudinov went, and in general - are they looking for him, or have they forgotten about his existence?
But the Gubashev brothers, Anzor and Shadid, even managed to receive 13 thousand euros according to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for violating the rules of their food in a pre-trial detention center, for handcuffing and for red tape with their appeals. According to the results of the consideration of the case, D. Peskov, V. Putin’s press secretary, said that such cases can continue for years, especially in searching for those who ordered the crime. In other words, be content with the performers.
Is Nemtsov an exception to Russian politics?
Opposition in Rus' has existed since the time of the boyars. This class opposed the power of the tsars, the first monarchs of Muscovy. The emperors were tired of the “Decembrists” and “People’s Will” with their love of freedom. Opportunists interfered with Lenin and Stalin, dissidents interfered with Khrushchev and Brezhnev.
The break in the persecution of oppositionists was short while the communist rebels Yeltsin and Sobchak were in power in the Russian Federation in the early nineties of the last century. Boris Nikolayevich nominated Putin and Nemtsov, unknown to anyone for the time being, to power.
Boris Nemtsov entered the political path at 32 years old. For six years he worked as the first head of one central region and at the same time sat in the State Duma for three of them as a people's deputy. Then he was transferred to the government, where he briefly worked as head Ministry of Fuel and Energy, then - first deputy prime minister of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Member of the country's Security Council. Yeltsin valued Nemtsov.
Boris Efimovich parted ways with the government in 1998, when Sergei Kiriyenko became prime minister - two youths did not fit in one leadership boat. At this time, he began to move away from the Yeltsin-Kiriyenko line and experience other political shades. I went through all the organizational structures until I created the Union of Right Forces (SPS) party. Obviously, in contrast to the left, that is, the communists.
How shades turned into a black mark
In 1999 - 2003, the Union of Right Forces in the State Duma of the Russian Federation had its own faction, and Nemtsov, as its leader, became one of the leaders of this national government body. The Union of Right Forces was a multi-faceted liberal movement, loyal to the authorities, and it is no longer a monolith. Nemtsov took the split in the Union of Right Forces as a signal to look more carefully for his comrades-in-arms.
The first test of Nemtsov’s independent movement was the election to the post of mayor of Sochi, nominated by the “ Solidarity" At that time, this provincial town in the Krasnodar Territory had not yet become the third capital of the Russian Federation, but Nemtsov seemed to have a presentiment that the residence of the President of the country would appear there. The elections he lost opened Nemtsov’s eyes to the arbitrariness of all branches of government. For example, residents of Abkhazia, who were citizens of the Russian Federation according to their passports, but were not registered anywhere, were made Sochi residents overnight for the mayoral elections.
He becomes the head of the movement against corruption in the highest echelons of power - the President, the government. In a number of his public articles, he also lists Vladimir Putin as corrupt officials. What kind of president would like this? He forgot that these are not the times of Boris Yeltsin, who stamped his visa on the Deputy Prime Minister’s reports on corruption schemes: “This is robbery. Figure out!!"
And the friendly handshake of Prime Minister V. Putin on July 4, 2000 turned into a vice. Nemtsov received a “black mark” in the form of administrative arrest as a result of the Sochi election epic. Although almost all court decisions against Nemtsov, who made specific criticism of specific persons of the highest authorities of the Russian Federation, were canceled, including after an appeal to the ECHR. And soon it was forgotten that the terrorists who captured Moscow Theater Center (2002), demanded Boris Nemtsov as trusted negotiators.
(medieval detective)
In Chernigov on Val, next to the Spassky Cathedral stands the single-domed Boris and Gleb Cathedral. The temple was built on the foundation of an older church by the Chernigov prince David Svyatoslavich (n. XII century) as the family tomb of the Davydovichs and is a monument to the Chernigov architectural school of the Kievan Rus period. And now, in the northern and southern parts of the cathedral, visitors can see well-preserved 6 niche tombs (arcasols) for princely burials. The temple was named Borisoglebsky in memory of the first Russian saints, princes Boris and Gleb (Roman and David in baptism), the youngest sons of the great Kyiv prince Vladimir 1, the Baptist. After the death of their father in 1015, Boris and Gleb were criminally killed by their brother Svyatopolk in a fierce struggle for power. For this serious crime, Prince Svyatopolk was nicknamed “The Accursed” (he committed the “Cain sin”). With this mark, he entered Russian history forever. Later, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized the innocently murdered brothers and ranked them among the host of pan-Slavic saints revered throughout the Orthodox world. About the tragic events of the bloody war of 1015-1019. tells “The Tale of Bygone Years,” compiled by the Kiev-Pechersk monk Nestor. In the struggle for Kyiv, Prince Svyatopolk suffered a crushing defeat from the Novgorod prince Yaroslav. And he fled in great fear, but died ingloriously in the Carpathians, on the way to Poland.
In the historical science of pre-revolutionary Russia and in Soviet times, following an already established tradition, Svyatopolk the Accursed was considered the initiator of the civil war in Rus'. The killer of his brothers. Another point of view (for example, N. Ilyin) was considered tendentious and was not taken seriously by learned men from history. At present (everything flows, everything changes) the palette of opinions about the events of “bygone days” has become widely covered in specialized literature, and even spilled out onto the pages of periodicals. A number of researchers (A. Golovko, A. Khoroshev, A. Nazarenko and others), following N. Ilyin, express doubt that Svyatopolk the Accursed was involved in the death of princes Boris and Gleb. Yaroslav the Wise, perhaps Mstislav of Tmutarakan (N. Kotlyar), is considered guilty of their death. In their research, they rely on Western sources: the Scandinavian “Eymund's Saga” and the “Chronicle” of the Saxon bishop Thietmar of Merseburg.
It turns out that Svyatopolk the Accursed is not “accursed” at all, he was undeservedly slandered in history, and Yaroslav the Wise is not a “wise” prince at all, but a cunning and cruel intriguer. For the sake of a thirst for power, he killed his younger brothers. And having accomplished his plan, he hastened to whitewash himself. Therefore, “The Tale of Bygone Years” should not be particularly trusted. Nestor the chronicler deliberately falsified events to please Prince Yaroslav.
Any point of view has the right to exist, especially if it is scientifically proven. But as if “they didn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater,” they began to believe Western sources too much, and questioned the domestic one.
Old Scandinavian sagas are a folklore, legendary source, an experience of oral folk art. The word “saga” is translated as “that which is told about.” “Eymund’s Saga” speaks fondly of the main character Eymund, who brought his Varangian squad to Novgorod to Prince Yaroslav. And he remembers Yaroslav as a not very wise military leader. And he was not famous for his “gentleness for a penalty” - generosity. In addition, we must remember that the saga was written down only in the 13th century. and came to us in the only list of the XIV century. as part of the Icelandic corpus. She has come a long way before she became widely known. And it is unlikely that she can be trusted unconditionally. It is not without reason that there is no consensus among historians about who owns the name “Burislef” in the saga - Svyatopolk the Accursed, his father-in-law King Boleslav the Brave of Poland, or Prince Boris? If it was Prince Boris, then he was not killed immediately after the death of his father, as Nestor tells us about this. And for some time he reigned in Kyiv. He fled from Kyiv after the battle with Yaroslav to the Pechenegs. But he did not calm down and tried to return to Rus' with them. And then Yaroslav decided to get rid of him. He sent spies to Boris’s camp - Eymund and his squad. The Varangians knew their business well. Burisleif-Boris was killed, and Eimund brought his head to Yaroslav. So in the saga. And it turns out that only the cunning Prince Yaroslav is to blame for the death of his younger brother.
The situation is no better with the “Chronicle” of the German Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg. He was a contemporary of the events, but not a participant, and wrote his “Chronicle” from the words of the Saxon knights, whose detachment took part in the campaign of the Polish king Boleslav the Brave against Kyiv. Since ancient times, Polish aggression (read: Catholicism) was already directed to the east. And here I would like to draw attention to an important point: the split of Christianity into Western and Eastern religions, which existed for a long time, but was legally formalized only in 1054. Year of death of Yaroslav the Wise. And the reason for “clearing roads and laying bridges” to Rus' was the expulsion of Svyatopolk from Kyiv. And then the researchers drew attention to a significant point in the chronicler’s story. It turns out that Svyatopolk was imprisoned in the last years of the life of Grand Duke Vladimir. After the death of his father, he managed to escape from captivity (apparently, not without the help of his well-wishers) and hastily, leaving his family, fled to Poland. Svyatopolk returned to Rus' with the Polish army of his father-in-law (1018). Then it turns out that he had nothing to do with the death of princes Boris and Gleb!
And one more important fact regarding Thietmar’s “Chronicle”. G.M. Filist, a famous Belarusian historian, at one time (1990) noted “we do not know the translation of the chronicle into Russian, we have not found it in German either.” The original died in 1945 in Dresden (apparently during the American bombing of the city). Maybe over the past years a translation of the “Chronicle” into Ukrainian has appeared? Without familiarity with the original source, repeating it from hearsay and obviously biased, it is difficult to agree with the integrity of its supposed “researchers.”
Prince Vladimir had 12 sons. After his death, Svyatopolk, Prince of Turov, remained the eldest in the family. The story of his birth is interesting. In the internecine struggle for primacy in the Russian land, Prince Vladimir killed his brother Yaropolk. By force he took his pregnant wife as his wife and adopted the born boy. Evil tongues in Rus' said that Svyatopolk was born from two husbands. Therefore, he hardly had any kindred feelings for his uncle. And was it not at an early age that the prince conceived a bold and insidious plan to take revenge on his father’s murderer? Prince Vladimir apparently felt the hidden hostility of his adopted son. And when the time came for the matured Svyatopolk to be given an inheritance, he planted him not far from himself, right there, in the Kyiv land, in Turov on Pripyat. Svyatopolk married the daughter of the Polish king Boleslav the Brave. Bishop Rainburn became the family's confessor. It was he who persuaded Svyatopolk to accept the dogmas of the Western Christian faith. Svyatopolk moved away from the Eastern Christian Church, which further strengthened his hostility towards his adoptive father. The time for a conspiracy is ripe. But the young prince acted too carelessly. The conspiracy was discovered, and Svyatopolk, his wife and confessor were summoned to Kyiv and put in a prison prison. And only the unexpected death of Prince Vladimir allowed him to break free. And I think, not without the effective support of their supporters.
Svyatopolk did not flee to Poland, as the chronicler Thietmar claims, but actively joined the fight for Kyiv. At night, he secretly(?), wrapped in a carpet, buries the Grand Duke in the Church of the Tithes, and in the morning he cajoles the people of Kiev with generous promises. With great reluctance, the people of Kiev agree to recognize the new government. With reluctance, perhaps because a rumor spread among the townspeople: Prince Vladimir did not die, but was killed as a result of a conspiracy (which is why he was buried secretly). And Svyatopolk is involved in it. But, reluctantly, I still had to admit it. After the death of his father, Svyatopolk, by right of seniority, laid claim to the throne. And the people of Kiev did not want bloodshed!
As they say: “From rags to riches,” from prison to the throne of Kiev! Winning the people of Kiev to your side was only half the battle; there were still brothers who could lay claim to Kyiv. The real threat was posed by the Novgorod prince Yaroslav. Even during his father’s life, he fully demonstrated his rebellious disposition and refused to pay tribute to Kyiv. Such “liberty” aroused the wrath of the Grand Duke of Kyiv, and they were judged only by his unexpected death. There were still brothers Boris and Gleb, born from the Byzantine princess Anna (possibly a Bulgarian - there is such a version). And although they were the youngest in the family, their chances for the princely table were preferable, yet royal blood flowed in their veins. The vague origins of Svyatopolk (it is not clear whose son he is after all?) cast doubt on the legality of his claims to supreme power.
So it turns out that the ambitious Svyatopolk was interested in the death of his younger brothers, who posed a threat to his irrepressible thirst for power. With clean hands and a soft heart they do not strive for power! If you want to be first, you need to put aside sentimentality (no kindred feelings!) and get your rivals out of the way, otherwise you yourself will be eliminated. The struggle for power is quite in the spirit of the times. This is what Prince Vladimir did in his time.
As you know, winners are not judged. This postulate was clearly confirmed by Prince Yaroslav. It can be assumed that his younger brothers interfered with him for the same reasons. In the ensuing confrontation, Princes Boris and Gleb were killed, and another brother, Prince Svyatoslav, also ingloriously disappeared “on the run.” Svyatopolk lost the fight, found himself an outcast in Rus', and his contemporaries condemned him: “The fruit of evil comes from the sinful root.” And the epithet “Cursed” was added to the name. Prince Yaroslav turned out to be the winner in a four-year fratricidal war. People's memory, unfortunately, is short-lived; even difficult things are quickly forgotten. Time passed, and for posterity the prince appeared “Wise” (there is a statement that the historian N.M. Karamzin first called him that).
Prince Yaroslav carried the memory of those sad events throughout his life. Conscience, apparently, tormented me greatly. And when he had to die, he bequeathed to his sons: “Have love for each other, since you are brothers of one father and one mother; Yes, if you love each other, God will be in you, and he will subdue your enemies, and you will live peacefully; If you live by hatred, you will be punished in strife, you yourself will perish, and the earth... you will destroy.”
History does not know the subjunctive mood; moreover, it is replete with legends. Perhaps, during his lifetime, Prince Yaroslav created for himself the legend of a just fighter for power and a strict guardian of the still nascent Orthodox traditions. However, he entered Russian history as an enlightened monarch, a guardian of the Russian land. Under Yaroslav, Rus' reached the peak of its economic and military potential and became a country “known in all corners of the world.” And is it worth overthrowing heroes from their pedestal just because there were times when they were used to being considered sinless, and other points of view were obstructed? Be that as it may, it is impossible to prove Yaroslav’s “guilt” over the years. And it’s hardly worth proving it. In real life, it happened the way it happened.
But “there is no silver lining.” This sad story has provided an invaluable service to the Orthodox Church. A country that had only recently adopted Christianity needed the cult of all-Russian saints. The innocently murdered brothers Boris and Gleb were quite suitable for this purpose. The chronicle story “About the Murder of Borisov” and “The Tale of Boris and Gleb” appeared. According to the church, they knew their fate and accepted death with meekness. And they humbly prayed for the salvation of the souls of their murderers. The brothers' life became the embodiment of the high principles of Christian morality: saving faith in God; ardent love for one's neighbor; honoring elders; meekness and humility. The Boris and Gleb cult has received wide recognition in all Orthodox countries. In Rus', as the first Russian saints, Boris and Gleb were recognized as the patrons of the Russian land.
The Church is faithful to its traditions and currently commemorates the passion-bearers Boris and Gleb on May 15 and August 6 - the day of their murder.
Reviews
Hello, dear Vitaly.
The Chronicle of Thietmar has been translated into Russian and is available on the Internet:
http://www.vostlit.info/haupt-Dateien/index-Dateien/T.phtml?id=2059
For me personally, it is a mystery why Thietmar is being made a “prosecution witness” against Yaroslav the Wise. He is more suitable for the role of "defense witness".
As a “private literary detective” I will try to prove the innocence of Yaroslav Vladimirovich.