Russian investigators on Thursday announced the arrests of two suspects in the killings of a human rights lawyer and a journalist who were shot in central Moscow in January.

Investigators identified the suspects as a man and woman in their 20s, but gave no details about their motives or suspected roles in the killings of Stanislav Markelov or Anastasia Baburova.

In briefing President Dmitry Medvedev on the arrests, the director of Russia's security services suggested the suspects were extreme nationalists. He said they belonged to an armed group that was implicated in a recent killing motivated by ethnic hatred.

Markelov, 34, a prominent lawyer whose work had angered nationalists, and Baburova, 25, a journalist walking with him, were shot after leaving a news conference on Jan. 19 in a brazen daytime attack by a lone gunman wearing a stocking-style mask.

Russia has seen a string of contract-style killings of human rights workers and journalists in recent years. Few of the killings are ever solved. In the rare case when people suspected of taking part in a killing are brought to trial, the mastermind is rarely identified.

Prosecutors won court approval Thursday to hold the two suspects for further investigation.

The suspects _ Yevgenia Khasis, 25, and Nikita Tikhonov, 29 _ appeared in court wearing black stockings over their faces.

Federal Security Services Director Alexander Bortnikov told the president in a televised briefing that the decision to arrest the pair was made Tuesday and that the killer had confessed to the crime. Bortnikov did not specify which suspect he was referring to. Continued...