Leaks On The Boris Nemtsov Murder Is Unnerving The Kremlin

Mark Galeotti, The Guardian: 'Leaks over Nemtsov murder signal both dissent and democracy in Russia'

After early confusion and contradiction, an increasingly clear picture is emerging from the investigation into the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov – and it has Chechens at its heart.

The shooter is believed to be Chechen fighter Zaur Dadaev, who initially confessed to the crime before claiming to have done so under duress, with the implication that he received his orders from Ruslan Geremeev, deputy commander of the special forces Sever Battalion. The loudly unspoken question is whether Geremeev was in turn acting for the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, or one of his close allies.

The reason we know this much is that there has been a steady flow of official statements and strategic leaks to the Russian media over the past five months. Whatever the truth behind the case, whoever decided Nemtsov had to die and why, the very fact that a traditionally tight-lipped system is leaking from every seam says something about today’s Russia.

WNU Editor: The Boris Nemtsov murder .... at the steps of  the Kremlin .... has definitely unnerved a lot of people in Moscow (myself included). The murderers may have been caught, but who ordered the killing is still unknown .... and that is where everyone's attention is now focused on. A few weeks after the murder I mentioned that these Chechen links tell me that it must have been Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov who ordered the hit .... since then .... I am now more convinced that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov did approve the order for this assassination, and he did to curry favour with Putin.  The truth will be known one day .... but for the moment  .... we will have to be content with the drip - drip of leaks that we are getting from this investigation.