RIA Novosti: “Russian secret service cameras did not capture Nemtsov murder – spokesman”

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RIA Novosti – March 2, 2015)

The Russian law-enforcement agency that provides personal protection to President Vladimir Putin and other top officials says its video cameras did not capture the killing of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov on a bridge near the Kremlin late on 27 February.

In remarks reported by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on 2 March, Sergey Devyatov, a spokesman for the Federal Protection Service (FSO), said the service’s cameras could not have recorded the killing because they are not trained on the Bolshoy Moskvoretskiy bridge, which is situated near the Kremlin walls.

“The video cameras are trained on the Kremlin and survey its internal territory. The Moskvoretskiy bridge is not part of the Federal Protection Service’s area of responsibility,” Devyatov said. “There are no FSO cameras there.”

RIA Novosti also quoted Devyatov as saying that all FSO cameras were functioning normally on the night of 27-28 February.

According to a report from the privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax, the Moscow city government’s information technology department has said that all its video surveillance cameras located near the scene of the killing were functioning normally at the time.

“In connection with reports from some media that our video surveillance cameras were switched off on the night of 27-28 February, the Moscow city information technology department states for the record that all cameras relating to the city’s video surveillance system were functioning normally on 27 and 28 February,” the department’s press-service said.

The department also said that surveillance cameras in the “immediate vicinity” of the Kremlin are controlled by the federal government.

“Cameras in the immediate vicinity of the Kremlin, which is a special site, do not belong to the city, only federal structures have access,” the department said.

According to RIA Novosti, the department says it has turned all the relevant recordings and data from its surveillance cameras over to the law-enforcement agencies for the purposes of the ongoing investigation into the killing.

Nemtsov, one of Putin’s staunchest domestic critics and a former deputy prime minister, was shot four times with a pistol late on 27 February. Russia’s Investigations Committee has said it is looking into a number of possible motives for his murder.

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