Boris Nemtsov’s girlfriend says she did not see his killer

Anna Duritskaya was walking with Putin opponent at time he was shot dead in Moscow 

Slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov's girlfriend Anna Duritskaya, who was with him when he was murdered, tells a Russian TV station she is being held against her will by Russian investigators. Video: tvrain.ru/Reuters
First published:Mon, Mar 2, 2015, 15:24
Boris Nemtsov’s girlfriend has broken her public silence on the murder of the Russian opposition activist, saying she did not see the killer who shot him as they strolled across a bridge near the Kremlin.
Ukrainian fashion model Anna Duritskaya said she had little recollection of what happened in the moments after Mr Nemtsov was shot dead on Friday night.
She told online news channel Dozhd that she had not noticed anything suspicious as the couple dined at a restaurant overlooking Red Square. It had not occurred to her that someone might be following them as they headed across the river towards Mr Nemtsov’s apartment.
“I don’t want to answer questions about what happened on the bridge. I don’t want to talk about this,” she said.
“I am in a very difficult psychological condition and I cannot talk about this any more now. I feel bad ... I saw no one. I don’t know where he came from, he was behind my back,” she said of the killer or killers.
Mr Nemtsov (55) was shot several times and killed instantly, becoming the most prominent opposition figure to be murdered during president Vladimir Putin’s 15-year rule. 
Tens of thousands of Russians marched through Moscow on Sunday to honour the former deputy prime minister and anti-corruption fighter.
Constant guard
Ms Duritskaya, who is in her early 20s, said she had been under constant guard since the murder and would probably be unable to attend Mr Nemtsov’s funeral on Tuesday. All she wanted to do was to go home to her mother in Ukraine. 
“I have every right to leave the territory of the Russian Federation. I am not a suspect. I am a witness who gave full testimony and did everything possible to assist the investigation,” she said.
“They are physically not allowing me to go anywhere without them,” Ms Duritskaya said, referring to law enforcement officials. “They have explained to me that this is for security reasons.”
Mr Nemtsov, an opposition politician whose murder has deepened a divide between liberals and Putin supporters, will be buried on Tuesday at the Troekurovskoye cemetery in western Moscow, far from where Russia’s top politicians are usually buried.
“I cannot go out. Most likely I will not go,” Ms Duritskaya said when asked if she would attend. She said she was now staying at a friend’s apartment in Moscow.
Lengthy questioning
Investigators had questioned her several times, gone through her belongings and taken data from her mobile phones. She said she was initially questioned for several hours without a lawyer or representative from the Ukrainian embassy.
Mr Nemtsov had criticised Mr Putin’s annexation of Crimea and his support for pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine. He and Ms Duritskaya had been dating for three years, she said.
The investigators say they are following several lines of inquiry and have come up with a number of possible motives. One is that Mr Nemtsov may have been the victim of a jealous former lover, a version Ms Duritskaya ruled out.
“I don’t think anything. I cannot think at the moment. I don’t know who did it,” she said. 
Reuters
First published:Mon, Mar 2, 2015, 15:24