Who is Anna Durytska? Ukrainian Fashion Model was Sole Witness to Chilling Murder of Putin's Greatest Rival

Ukrainian model Anna Durytska solely witnessed the chilling murder of Putin's greatest rival.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is known for his merciless actions against his opponents and what could be a better example than the Ukraine invasion. Last week, the Russian president had authorised a brutal crackdown on protests demonstrated on the streets of Moscow against his Ukrainan invasion, according to Daily Star.

Putin's rivals, such as Alexei Navalny and Alexander Litvinenko are known to have been poisoned by the Russian president's henchmen while another Russian opposition leader named Boris Nemtsov was murdered by a gunman while he was walking across a bridge in Moscow.

The shooting incident took near the Kremlin in February 2015. But, Nemtsov couldn't survive, he succumbed to his injuries hours after he expressed his support for a march against Russian aggression in Ukraine publicly. While, Putin is blamed for the incident by many, officially, the crime is yet to be solved.

Ukrainian model
Web screen grab

But, there's only one witness to the shocking 2015 shooting incident. It was a Ukrainian fashion model Anna Durytska, who was dating Nemtsov at the time he was gunned down near Kremlin.

Who is Anna Durytska?

Anna Durytska is a Ukrainian fashion model, who became a finalist for Miss Ukraine Universe pageant in 2018. Durytska, 23, is believed to be the sole witness to the chilling murder of Nemtsov, who is one of Putin's greatest rivals. However, back then, the model said she did not see the killer as he attacked Nemtsov from behind. "I didn't see the man. I turned round and all I saw was a light-colored car. I I didn't have item to see the make of the car nor its license plate as it was driving away," she said.

In 2015, Durytska claimed that she was a close contact to Nemtsov for three years and said Nemtsov's killing could possibly be due to jealousy over their relationship.

The model had also disclosed during an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio on March 2, 2015 that she was questioned by investigators every day since the killing of her then boyfriend Nemtsov as they walked across a bridge just off Red Square late on February 27.

"I have given all possible evidence and done everything possible -- I have told them everything I know," she had revealed in another interview.​

The Russians loyal to Putin made efforts so that she did not testify. Durytska was held under house arrest by Russian police right after Nemtsov's murder. Pro-Putin news agencies even leaked erotic lingerie photos of the model in a bid to discredit her while propaganda chiefs loyal to the Russian president planted stories that Nemtsov had flown the former beauty queen to a Swiss clinic for an abortion to tarnish their reputations.

READ MORE