MOSCOW: The chief witness in the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov -- a Ukrainian model who was his girlfriend -- arrived in Kiev late Monday, as authorities vowed to solve the most shocking political assassination to take place during Vladimir Putin's rule.
Ganna Duritska, who was walking with Nemtsov when he died, arrived safely at Kiev airport, her lawyer Vadim Prokhorov -- who was accompanying her -- told reporters, adding that she needed to rest.
Duritska earlier said investigators were preventing her from leaving Moscow.
The funeral for Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister, longtime Putin critic and anti-corruption crusader, was to be held Tuesday in the Russian capital's Troekurovskoye cemetery.
His body was to lie in state starting at 0700 GMT at the Andrei Sakharov rights centre, the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Nemtsov colleague Konstantin Merzlikin as saying.
Nemtsov was shot dead shortly before midnight Friday while walking across a bridge just a short distance from the Kremlin together with 23-year-old Duritska.
Putin, whose rule has seen the steady suppression of independent media, non-Kremlin controlled political parties and opposition-minded business figures, called the murder a "contract killing" and said it was a provocation. Soon after the killing, Putin promised an all-out effort to catch the perpetrators.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pledged that the "heinous crime" would be "fully investigated".
A reward of three million rubles ($48,000) was offered for information on Nemtsov's death, a substantial amount in Moscow, where the average monthly salary is 60,000 rubles ($960).
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