False information in Boris Nemtsov's case does not distract investigators' attention from Chechnya

Three versions of the murder of Boris Nemtsov originally voiced by investigators and officials have been reduced to the arrest of natives of Chechnya and the search for the organizers of the crime in the territory of the region. Experts agree that the versions that contradict each other and dissemination of conflicting information in mass media are aimed to create information noise and turn a blow away from the search for customers of the crime. Meanwhile, on April 6, Vadim Prokhorov, an advocate of the victim party, even questioned the ability of top-ranking officials of the country to do anything in the territory of Chechnya. The "Caucasian Knot" tried to summarize the information about the investigation progress available through open sources.

Chronicle of main stages of official and journalistic investigations

The "Caucasian Knot" presents the major marks of the flow of information that became available in connection with the investigation into the crime.

February 28. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to Boris Nemtsov's murder. He called the crime a provocation and identified it as an ordered crime. On air of the "Kommersant FM", Dmitry Peskov, the Vladimir Putin's Spokesman, has explained that the murder committed on the eve of the opposition march and on the background of the events in Ukraine looks like a provocation against the authorities. On the same day, Vladimir Markin, the Spokesman for the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), has announced on the ICRF's website a version that the crime may be connected with Ukraine and the "Islamic trace". Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov associates the murder of Boris Nemtsov with "external enemies of Russia."

March 7. Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev have been detained in the case of the murder of politician Boris Nemtsov, reports Alexander Bortnikov, the Chief of the FSB.

The "Caucasian Knot" publishes the information about the region, in which the suspects were detained, and about the fact that Zaur Dadaev used to serve at the battalion "Sever" (North).

According to the secret services, in an apartment of a multi-storey building in Grozny, Beslan Shavanov, a former colleague and subordinate of Zaur Dadaev, blew himself up with a grenade while power agents tried to detain him. Like Zaur Dadaev, Beslan Shavanov served at the battalion "Sever" (North) for more than 10 years.

March 8. In Moscow, the court arrested five suspects, including Zaur Dadaev, Anzor Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhaev, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, and Shagid Gubashev. All of them, including Zaur Dadaev, did not admit their guilt of the crime at the court session. However, Judge Natalia Mushnikova voiced the investigators' information about the confession made by Zaur Dadaev.

On his page on the social network Instagram, Ramzan Kadyrov calls Zaur Dadaev "a true patriot of Russia" and says that he "was, like all Muslims, shocked by the actions of 'Charlie Hebdo' and comments in support of printing of the cartoons."

March 10. Members of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) visit Zaur Dadaev at the SIZO (pre-trial prison), and the detainee tells them that he is not involved in the crime and that he made a confession under torture.

The "Novaya Gazeta" reports that the investigators believe the organizer of the murder is a relative of a top-ranking Chechen official, known under the name of Ruslan. In his Twitter, Alexei Navalny wrote the name of Ruslan mentioned by the "Novaya Gazeta" Geremeev, the edition "Slon" reports.

March 17. The "RBC" reports with reference to informed sources that Dadaev has confessed that a native of Chechnya nicknamed Rusik helped him to organize the crime and promised to pay 5 million roubles for the murder.

March 19. The "Kommersant" reports with reference to its sources that in the case of the Boris Nemtsov's murder, the investigators instructed operative team to find Geremeev for questioning as a witness.

March 25. Ivan Gerasimov, an advocate of Zaur Dadaev, has claimed that his client did not refuse his confession, since he had not been re-interrogated at that moment. Meanwhile, the defender reported on the possible alibi of Zaur Dadaev.

The "Rosbalt" publishes its version, according to which, Ruslan Geremeev may be in heavily guarded village of Djalka.

March 27. Geremeev is being interrogated in the territory of Chechnya, the "RBC" reports with reference to sources familiar with the investigation progress.

A source close to the investigation claims that Zaur Dadaev does not fit the description of the Boris Nemtsov's killer, given by Evgeny, a witness to the crime, the "Kommersant" reports.

April 1. At the court session, Anton Migunov, an investigator of the ICRF, has stated that Zaur Dadaev made a confession, which, in particular, confirmed that he and Khamzat Bakhaev had been involved in the murder of Boris Nemtsov. Ivan Gerasimov has again denied the information and stated that Zaur Dadaev does not cooperate with the investigators. Zaur Dadaev himself has refused his earlier testimony and claimed being not guilty.

Killers from abroad

Almost immediately after the murder of Boris Nemtsov, the top-ranking officials of the country voice the version of "Ukrainian" and "Western" traces. With reference to the same unnamed investigators, the "Izvestia" called the Ukrainian secret services the actual customers of the murder of Boris Nemtsov and reported that the crime might have been organized by Chechen fighters from the battalion named after Johar Dudaev. "According to a source in the law enforcement bodies, the murder of Boris Nemtsov was organized by Adam Osmaev, the present commander of the battalion, involved in the case of plotting the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his wife Amina Okueva," the "Izvestia" reported. However, the above version was not developed further.

The version of the involvement of Western secret service has been also actively developed. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has shown himself as one of the most active supporters of the above version. On February 28, one day after the murder, in his account on Instagram, he blamed "the secret services of the West that seek to use all means to ignite an internal conflict in Russia."

"To say the least, Kadyrov's statements are inconsistent, starting from accusation of the US of what has happened. All this still fails to build a single picture," said Alexander Cherkasov, the Chairman of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

"Charlie Hebdo" in Russian style

The more wide development was given to the version that Zaur Dadaev, a suspected perpetrator of the murder, allegedly had negative feelings in connection with the Boris Nemtsov's statements with regard to Islam or the murder of the French cartoonists. "The version associated with the Islamic extremist trace is also being thoroughly investigated. The fact is that the investigators have information that Boris Nemtsov received threats in connection with his position towards the massacre of the journalists of the magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' in Paris," said ICRF's Spokesman Vladimir Markin on February 28.

According to Musa Temishev, a member of the political council, the acting President of the Assembly of the Peoples of the Caucasus, the version of revenge for the alleged anti-Islamic statements voiced by Boris Nemtsov is not even worth discussing.

Information and questions

The most questions refer to the role of Ruslan Geremeev in the case of the Boris Nemtsov's murder. In particular, the mass media published the information that someone Rusik was not Ruslan Geremeev. So, on March 17, the "RBC" reported with reference to Temirlan Eskerkhanov, a defendant in the case, that Rusik was the name of the Ruslan Geremeev's driver.

On March 27, the mass media published contradictory information about the testimony given by Evgeny, one of the witnesses of the murder. "The description given by the witness did not correspond to the appearance of Zaur Dadaev, who was then accused of the murder," the "Kommersant" reports.

However, on the same day, the "RBC" reported that the testimony given by witness Evgeny does not contradict the plot of the charges.

The versions disseminated by the mass media agreed on one fact only: the witness said that the suspected killer fled in a white sedan car, which looked like domestic Lada Priora or VAZ-2110 cars. Meanwhile, the investigation materials mentioned a foreign ZAZ Chance car. However, as it can be seen even from a collage compiled by the "Caucasian Knot", those cars have a lot of similarities, including their logos.

Information noise

The appearance of articles with conflicting information on the investigation into the murder of Boris Nemtsov looks like a purposeful creation of informational noise. This was stated by Oleg Orlov, a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

According to the experts earlier interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", the detention of the former fighters of the special unit "Sever" (North) caused "serious reputational damage to the leader of Chechnya." The dismissal of the defendants in the case of the Boris Nemtsov's murder from the battalion "Sever" (North) has led to the fact that Ramzan Kadyrov "had to justify them." This was noted by Alexei Malashenko, a member of the Scientific Council of the Moscow Carnegie Centre.

Thus, it is possible that one of the purposes of conflicting pieces of evidence may be turn a blow away from the Chechen leader. The investigation progress is under the influence of groups of the authorities, "and not one, but several groups." This opinion was expressed by political analyst Ruslan Martagov, the former Information Minister of Chechnya.

In his interview given to The New Times, Vadim Prokhorov, an advocate of the victims (Boris Nemtsov's children and their guardians), also speaks of deliberate "data thrown into the media." "Here, for example, they reported: 'Geremeev was interrogated.' It is not true. They reported: 'Anna Duritskaya was summoned for questioning.' It is also not true."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.