A Russian agent linked to an assassination team was tracking Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, an investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider and the BBC has found. Watch the report with Newsnight's ggatehouse's at 2230 on BBCTwo
Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was shadowed by an agent linked to a political assassination team for almost a year before he was shot dead, an investigation has found.
On 27 February 2015, Mr Nemtsov was shot dead just yards from the Kremlin, and just days before he was due to lead a protest against the war. The last time the agent followed Mr Nemtsov was on 17 February 2015, just 10 days before the assassination.Boris Nemtsov attends a protest rally against alleged vote rigging in Russia's parliamentary elections on 10 December, 2011 in Moscow
"In a corrupt society like Russia, [Magistral] is a double-edged sword," says Christo Grozev, executive director of Bellingcat.Watch the full investigation on BBC iPlayer Most of Mr Nemtsov's trips took him from Moscow, where he lived, to Yaroslavl - 272km north-east of the capital - where he sat in the regional parliament.
"If you're an FSB officer, you would just be able to log into that database and see, for a particular person, all of the tickets that they're purchasing, have purchased, or are buying at this very moment," he told the BBC.It is not unusual in Russia for security agencies to keep tabs on prominent opposition leaders.
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