A colleague o fBoris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition figure shot dead near the Kremlin in Moscow, has said suggestions he was killed by Islamists were nonsensical but useful for the Kremlin because they deflected accusations that officials were involved.

Speculation about an Islamist link grew afte rinvestigators  charged Zaur Dadayev over the killing. Dadayev is an associate of Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who said on Sunday the murder may have been in response to anger over Nemtsov’s support for the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

That has been met with scepticism by some of Nemtsov’s associates. They believe that the Kremlin stood to gain from the killing – though Russian officials have denied involvement – and they do not believe fanatics acting alone could have shot someone dead so close to the Kremlin. 

Many of Nemtsov’s allies have blamed Putin personally for the murder. Some suggested Putin’s rhetoric about a “fifth column” inside Russia had created an atmosphere of hatred that may have been seized on by radical nationalists, while others implied Putin may have ordered the killing.