In the evening of February 27th, 2015, Russian politician Boris Nemtsov — a fierce critic of Putin — was shot down on a bridge in the shadow of the Kremlin.
Five Chechens were jailed for the murder, but the key questions of who hired them for that and why remained unanswered.
Five Chechens were jailed for the murder, but the key questions of who hired them for that and why remained unanswered.
Seven years later, an investigation by our team #BBCEyeInvestigations — working with @bellingcat and @the_ins_ru — reveals that, in the year running up to his murder, Nemtsov was being shadowed by a government agent linked to a secret assassination squad.
According to his documents, the agent’s name is Valery Nikolayevich Sukharev — and all the evidence indicates he serves with the FSB. 
The FSB’s mandate includes managing internal political threats on behalf of the Kremlin — and in that capacity, agent Valery Sukharev has been linked to at least two poisonings, both aimed at prominent critics of Putin.
We put these allegations to the Russian government and the FSB. This is what Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, told us.
The FSB did not respond.
The FSB did not respond.
The short version of the film is in this text piece. The full documentary will drop soon on YouTube.
bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…
bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…
This story was made possible only by the hard work and dedication of @christogrozev, @YordanTsa, @danielsilas, @antoineschirer, @NedDavies, @CPamment, @bertram_hill1, @jaketacchi, @ggatehouse, @SVanhooymissen, @Dobrokhotov, @the_ins_ru, @EliotHiggins, @bellingcat and many more.
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