LIVE UPDATES: Zaur Dadayev, a former officer in Chechnya’s Interior Ministry troops, will be tried by a military court, Nemtsov’s lawyer has learned.
Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies.
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But the sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation, said the mechanic had been detained, along with two airport policemen and a baggage handler suspected of helping him put the bomb on board.
“After learning that one of its members had a relative that worked at the airport, Islamic State delivered a bomb in a handbag to that person,” said one of the sources, adding the suspect’s cousin joined Islamic State in Syria a year and a half ago.
“He was told to not ask any questions and get the bomb on the plane.”
Another source said of the other suspects: “Two policemen are suspected of playing a role by turning a blind eye to the operation at a security checkpoint. But there is a possibility that they were just not doing their jobs properly.”
The FSB’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAC) said that they could not confirm the claims from Egypt.
Although FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov had reported to President Vladimir Putin on November 17 that there was a bomb with up to one kilogram of TNT on board and that it was “unambiguously a terrorist act,” the investigation did not characterize it as such until now.
Egypt has been losing $225 million a month in revenue from tourism as as resort hotel reservations are down 20%, AP reports.
RBC.ru reports that flights from Russia to Egypt are still banned, although talks have been resumed with Egypt; Putin has said that, until Egyptian authorities resolve security issues for Russians, flights cannot be renewed.
Igor Trunov, a lawyer for the relatives of the victims of the crash, filed a complaint against Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee for refusing to allow him access to the case files and ignoring complaints, as well as delaying in declaring the relatives legally as victims, but a court rejected his suit on January 13.
He has also served as the attorney in the case of the Tsaritsyno precinct policeman Denis Yevsyukov who opened fire in a supermarket, and the case of Lukoil Vice President Anatoly Barkov who was found guilty of running down and killing a pedestrian, Olga Aleksandrina.
Trunov believes he has been placed under hostile review because the authorities don’t like the cases he is taking up.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick