A Russian opposition leader was forced to write hand-scrawled notes to his aide the day before he was shot dead near the Kremlin after claiming he feared he was being bugged. Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, was gunned down as he walked with his Ukrainian girlfriend, Anna Duritskaya on Friday night near Red Square. He was the most prominent opposition figure to be killed in Russia during Russian President Vladimir Putin's 15-year rule. Former Russian deputy prime minister and opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead near the Kremlin last week. Before his death he feared he was being bugged . In his final note before his death, Mr Nemstov is claimed to have written about how he heard Russian paratroopers had been fighting in Ukraine. Pictured is the scene near to the Kremlin and Red Square after he was gunned down . Now it has emerged that the day before his death, Mr Nemtsov and close aide Olga Shorina were discussing a sensitive investigation he was preparing into Moscow's backing for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. But fearing that his conversations with Ms Shorina were being listened in on by the Kremlin, he resorted to writing instead of talking. In his final note, which has been shown to Reuters, Mr Nemtsov wrote: 'Some paratroopers from Ivanovo have got in touch with me. 17 killed, they didn't give them money, but for now they are frightened to talk.' Ms Shorina said: 'He did not want to say anything, just in case. He did not want to utter it out loud, which is why he wrote it down for me.' However, it has not been possible to independently confirm the authenticity of the handwritten note. Ms Shorina added that Mr Nemtsov has planned to publish one million copies of his report on Ukraine, in order to reach as wide an audience as possible. She explained that most of the material gathered for his report was from open sources, and that he had not been intending to reveal any explosive new information. However she said in the course of his research, he had been contacted by relatives of a group of Russian soldiers, who according to him has been in action in eastern Ukraine. He claimed they were the serviceman who were based in Ivanovo, a city 185 miles north east of Moscow, which houses units of the Russian military's 98th paratroop division. Mr Shorina added: 'He was maintaining contact with them. How he was maintaining contact with them, I don't know, he did not put me in touch with anyone.' Mr Nemtsov's mother, secretary and daughter pay their last respects at Mr Nemtsov's funeral. Ms Shorina added that Mr Nemtsov has planned to publish one million copies of his report on Ukraine . The aide said she and another Nemtsov associate, Ilya Yashin, would try to salvage the information Mr Nemtsov had been gathering and attempt to publish the report in a month. But as far as she was aware, he had only managed to write down a table of contents. She said that for previous reports, Mr Nemtsov had stored most of the information in his head, and would dictate it to her when he was ready. Meanwhile, Mr Yashin said he and Mr Nemtsov had spoken about the Ukraine report about a day and a half before his death. He said: 'He told me he had been in touch with relatives of Russian soldiers killed there and he was planning a trip to Ivanovo to talk to the parents of those killed soldiers. 'He said in the very near future he was going to assemble and put in order various evidence and documents directly proving the presence of the Russian military on the territory of Ukraine and, accordingly, (exposing) President's Putin's lies that there are no Russian servicemen there.' President Vladimir Putin has condemned the death of Mr Nemtsov, saying it was a shameful tragedy . Since last summer, reports have been circulating inside the country that many serving Russian troops have died in combat in eastern Ukraine, where the separatist war has killed more than 6,000 people. However, Moscow adamantly denies sending arms or troops to the region, saying any Russians fighting in Ukraine are volunteers. Mr Nemtsov's death came a week ago when after dining next to Red Sqaure, the 55-year-old was shot four times in the back. Putin has called his death a shameful tragedy, and the Kremlin has denied any involvement. Mr Nemtsov was part of a liberal opposisition in Russia and was almost never given any air time on state-run television and radio. In a campaign over many years to expose what he saw as Putin's misrule, Mr Nemtsov had previously published eight reports, including investigations into alleged corruption surrounding last year's Sochi Winter Olympics and into assets owned by the president and his circle .
Boris Nemtsov was gunned down last week in Moscow while with girlfriend . He was a prominent opposition figure and critic of president Vladimir Putin . Close aide claims he feared he was being bugged leading up to his death . Olga Shorina says he was forced to hand write notes to communicate . Came as they discussed an investigation into fighters in eastern Ukraine . Ms Shorina says Mr Nemtsov had evidence of Russian soldiers inside Ukraine .