Anna Duritskay, the 23-year-old Ukrainian model who was with Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov when he was killed, has gone into hiding.
Duritskay, the only witness to Nemtsov's murder, skipped her lover's funeral, received a diplomatic escort to Ukraine, and erased her social media profiles last week after
three days of questioning, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Nemtsov, 55, was shot Feb. 27 as he walked across a bridge with Duritskay after they had dinner in Red Square. The model has said she didn’t see the suspect or anything more than a glimpse of the light-colored vehicle the shooter rode in.
The model’s mother, Inna Duritskaya, told CNN that her daughter heard what sounded like a clapping sound before Nemtsov, who was holding her hand as they walked near the Kremlin, went limp and fell to the ground.
She called her mother after contacting the police.
Duritskaya, who had been dating Nemtsov for about two and a half years, declined to enter a witness protection program, the Times said, even though she's reportedly been receiving death threats.
She has been placed under state protection in Ukraine and
won’t return to Russia, according to the Daily Mail.
“If Russian investigators need to talk to her, they will have to come to Ukraine,” Anton Geraschenko, an aide to the Interior Minister, said, according to the Daily Mail.
Investigators are considering multiple theories about the killing, including whether it may have been an act of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism or an attempt to destabilize Russia.
Forbes reported that five people, believed to be from Chechnya, have been implicated in the killing.
High-profile murders in Russia are often linked to
Chechnya or the Caucasus region, according to Business Insider.
“Usually, suspects are located fairly quickly and put on trial, while those that organized and paid for the killings disappear into the ether,” the website reported.
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