Nemtsov girlfriend says threatened: Ukraine

Kiev, Mar 6: The Ukrainian girlfriend of murdered Russian opposition activist Boris Nemtsov, who was by his side when he was shot dead, has complained to police of receiving death threats, Ukrainian prosecutors said today.

"Ganna Duritska... filed a statement about the threat to her life from unidentified people during her time in her parents' home" where she has stayed since her return Monday to Kiev from Moscow, said a statement from the prosecutor general.

Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in consequence ordered that "all necessary measures are taken to protect the life and health" of Duritska, a Ukrainian model.

Spokesman at the prosecutor's office Andriy Demartyno told AFP that the protection measures mean several "police special forces officers" will ensure her safety.

He did not detail the nature of the death threats. Nemtsov, one of the most outspoken critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down just metres from the Kremlin shortly before midnight last Friday in a brazen assassination that has so far yielded a string of conspiracy theories, but few tangible clues.

Duritska left Moscow overnight Monday after complaining of being blocked by investigators in an apartment for nearly three days despite telling police everything she knows.

In the statement, prosecutors said that police in Kiev region's Bila Tserkva, where Duritska is staying with her mother, have launched an investigation into attempted murder.

AFP