Zaur Dadaev has confessed to his involvement in the recent assassination of the politician Boris Nemtsov.
"I have known Zaur as a true patriot of Russia. He had the rank of a lieutenant and held the position of a battalion deputy commander in a regiment of the 46th separate operative brigade of Russia’s Interior Ministry troops," Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram page.
"Zaur was one of the bravest men in the regiment," Kadyrov said. "He displayed particular courage in an operation against a large group of terrorists near Benoi. He was awarded the Order of Courage, and medals For Bravery and For Services to the Chechen Republic. I am certain that he was sincerely dedicated to Russia and prepared to give his life for the Motherland. The real reasons and motives behind Dadayev’s dismissal from the Russian Interior Ministry troops are unclear to me."
"I have instructed Chechnya’s Security Council Secretary Vakhit Usmayev to conduct a thorough investigation of Zaur Dadayev’s resignation and to scrutinize his behavior and morale on the eve of leaving the service," Kadyrov said. "In any case, if Dadayev’s guilt is established in court, it will have to be admitted that by taking a human life he committed a grave crime. But I must say once again that he would never have taken a single step against Russia, for the sake of which he had risked his own life for many years. Beslan Shavanov, the man killed during an attempt to detain him, was a brave soldier, too. We hope that a thorough investigation will follow to show if Dadayev is really guilty, and if yes, what was the real reason behind his actions."
