Russia Vows to Find Opposition Figure's Killers

Russia vowed Monday to find the killers of outspoken opposition leader Boris Nemtsov as fresh details emerged about the most shocking political assassination during Vladimir Putin's rule.

The 55-year-old former deputy prime minister, a longtime Putin critic and renowned anti-corruption crusader, was shot dead shortly before midnight Friday while walking across a bridge just a short distance from the Kremlin.

Shocked opposition figures in Russia and Western leaders called for a full and transparent probe into the murder of Nemtsov, who served as Boris Yeltsin's first deputy prime minister in the 1990s.

On Tuesday, Nemtsov's body will lie in state at the Andrei Sakharov rights center in Moscow, followed by his burial at the city's Troekurovskoye cemetery.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people joined a memorial march in Moscow for Nemtsov, numbers not seen since the mass anti-Putin rallies of 2011 and 2012.

Putin himself vowed to spare no effort to bring the killers to justice, ordering law enforcement chiefs to personally take on the case.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pledged Monday that the "heinous crime" would be "fully investigated."

A reward of three million rubles ($48,000) is on offer for information on Nemtsov's death, a substantial amount in Moscow, where the average monthly salary is 60,000 rubles ($960).

Various motives for the murder have been floated, including Nemtsov's opposition to Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict, as well as his condemnation of January's killings at the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris by Islamist gunmen.

Investigators also suggested the killers wanted to destabilize Russia, which is facing its worst standoff with the West since the Cold War over Ukraine.

Ganna Duritska, Nemtsov's 23-year-old Ukrainian girlfriend who was at his side when he died, but who was not injured, spoke to media for the first time.

Sounding bewildered and distressed, she told independent TV Dozhd (Rain) she did not see where the assassin came from as the attack took place behind her.

Investigators are keeping her under 24-hour guard in her friends' flat for her security, despite her wish to go home to Ukraine to see her mother, she said.

Her mother, Inna Duritska, told AFP in Kiev that "she and Boris were together for 2 1/2 years" and "Boris was her great love."

"Boris treated her very well and he was a wonderful person," she said. "They had a very warm relationship."

Ganna Duritska "has nothing to do with this murder. She was not a politically active person," her mother said.

The model was walking home with Nemtsov after they dined at the upmarket Bosco Cafe overlooking Red Square, Russian media reported.

As fresh details of the crime emerged in Russian media, there were suggestions the assassination may have been the work of low-level criminals, rather than a "meticulously planned" murder by professional hit-men as originally believed.

"Participants in the investigation are only sure of one thing -- that the killers were not professionals," said Kommersant.

The broadsheet said they used ammunition that was years old and possibly an unreliable home-made weapon.

The murderer -- or murderers -- fired four bullets into Nemtsov's back and several more were found at the scene.

The bullets were made by a variety of different manufacturers, the oldest dating back to 1986, Kommersant said, citing sources.

The weapon may have been a Makarov pistol, used by Russian armed forces, or an easily-acquired Izh gas pistol, converted to fire live rounds, the newspaper said.

A converted weapon of this type was used in 2006 to kill journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya.

The senior investigator in charge of the probe was named as Igor Krasnov, known for solving high-profile crimes committed by far-right nationalists, including the daylight shooting of rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov in 2009.

Nemtsov however was not a known target for nationalists, who have "kill lists". But he had received numerous death threats.

Investigators first said the killer fired from inside a car, but witness statements later established he walked up steps onto the bridge and fled in a light-colored car.

He was around 1.70 meters tall (five foot seven inches) with short dark hair, wearing blue jeans and a brown sweater, Life News website reported, citing a law enforcement source.

One television channel captured the entire murder by chance from a fixed camera, recording the exact timing, although the image is extremely grainy. The video can be seen at http://www.tvc.ru/news/show/id/62541

Many questioned how a murder could be committed in one of the most secure places in Moscow and how the killer could escape.

Fellow opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Nemtsov would almost certainly have been under some form of surveillance at the time of his death, given the two had been planning a major rally in Moscow on Sunday.

Nemtsov was shot a few hours after urging listeners on Echo of Moscow radio to attend the Sunday opposition rally called to demand an end to the war in Ukraine.