KIEV, Ukraine -- Was Boris Nemtsov gunned down footsteps from the Kremlin by radical Islamists because of his support for Charlie Hebdo?
That is message that the Kremlin is pushing. But Ilya Yashin, a close friend of Nemtsov and the co-leader of his liberal opposition party, says the suggestion he was killed by Chechen Islamists is "nonsensical" and merely a convenient motive meant to deflect allegations that the Russian government was involved in the high-profile assassination.
"Our worst fears are coming true," Yashin said on Sunday. "The trigger man will be blamed, while those who actually ordered Nemtsov's killing will go free."
"Investigators' nonsensical theory about Islamist motives in Nemtsov's killing suit the Kremlin and take Putin out of the firing line," he added.
Speculation about an Islamist link swirled after Moscow's Basmanny District Court arrested and charged Chechen Zaur Dadayev in the murder on Sunday. The presiding judge said he had confessed to his involvement, which Nemtsov allies met with skepticism.
Ramzan Kadyrov -- Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader, a Putin supporter and an associate of Dadayev's -- later posted on Instagram that Nemtsov's murder was unrelated to internal politics and instead was an act in defense of Islam. He implied that Dadayev committed the murder in retaliation for the opposition leader's support for the Charlie Hebdo cartoons and his comments about Muslims.
Фото опубликовано Аллах Велик!!! (@kadyrov_95) Мар 8 2015 в 10:55 PDT
Dadayev is a decorated former deputy battalion commander of the Interior Ministry troops, a "deep believer" of Islam and a "real patriot of Russia" who was offended by depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in the French satirical magazine, Kadyrov said.
"Anyone who knows Zaur [can] argue that he is a deeply religious man, and that he, like all Muslims, was shocked by the actions of Charlie [Hebdo] and comments in support of printing the cartoons," he said.
"If the court finds Dadayev guilty then by killing a person he has committed a grave crime," Kadyrov added. "But I want to note that he could not do anything that was against Russia, for which he has risked his own life for many years."
Dadayev, one of five men -- all from southern Russia's North Caucasus region -- to appear in court, raised his right index finger during the arraignment, a common Islamist sign, and said: "I love the Prophet Mohammed."
Many Russians dismiss the Islamist theory as wild and predictable. While Nemtsov was a staunch critic of the Kremlin -- and of Putin, in particular -- he was not well known for his remarks about Islam.
Referring to a Paris rally in January, Nemstov tweeted: "This is what Paris looks like now. A huge meeting in support of Charlie Hebdo and freedom of speech. They won't scare us!"
Сейчас Париж выглядит так. Огромный митинг в поддержку Charlie Hebdo и свободы слова. Нас не запугать!-... http://t.co/GMGDYh5J0X— Boris Nemtsov (@BorisNemtsov) January 7, 2015
In a blog post a couple of days later, he wrote: "Now we are witnesses of a medieval Islamic Inquisition. Centuries will pass and Islam will grow up, and terrorism [will be] a thing of the past. But to sit and do nothing is not worth it."
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_04931.jpg" caption="People carry a banner of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was killed Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 near the Kremlin, with words reading "heroes never die!" in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 1, 2015." credit="Evgeny Feldman, Mashable" alt="Nemtsov Moscow march"]
Radical Chechen Islamists have been blamed for several high-profile murders in Russia in recent years. There has also been heavy criticism that those who ordered the killings haven't been prosecuted -- only the trigger men.
Take for instance the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot in her home in 2006. Four Chechens were among the five people convicted in her killing, which was painted as retaliation for her criticism of Kadyrov. But the murder has never been fully solved, as the person or persons who ordered the hit were never brought to justice.
Many Russians blame Putin for the murder of Nemtsov. Others say the president didn't order the hit himself, but his rhetoric about the opposition being "traitors" and a "fifth column" -- messages pushed by state-run media -- fomented an atmosphere of hatred that encouraged radical nationalists to take violent action.
Putin has had personal control over the investigation from day one, leading critics to say they smell a coverup.
That Kremlin's Chechen fairytale is coming true shows that while we may never know exactly who ordered Boris's murder, we know his address.— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) March 9, 2015
Mark Galeotti, a Russian security services expert and professor at New York University, is also a skeptic. He says the Islamist theory playing out "is convenient not [only] for the Kremlin, but also Kadyrov."
"The Kremlin gets to blame the usual folk devils, Chechens and jihadists, getting itself and the ultra-nationalists with whom Putin is so pally off the hook," he told Mashable via email. "Kadyrov distracts attention from him."