A few hours after going on the radio to denounce President Vladimir Putin's policies as mad, charismatic opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down late Friday as he walked near the Kremlin.
Colleagues in Russia's beleaguered and marginalized opposition pointed fingers at the state or at assailants fired up by fervent nationalist sentiment in state-controlled news media. But Putin and other Russian politicians suggested the brazen attack was a provocation against the state.
Nemtsov, 55, was shot around 11:40 p.m. while walking with a female companion — a Ukrainian citizen — on a bridge over the Moscow River about 400 metres from the Kremlin. Russia's Investigative Committee said at least seven shots were fired.
Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov has been an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)
Nemtsov was to have been a prominent participant in a march planned for Sunday in a Moscow to protest Russia's policies in Ukraine, where the West alleges the Kremlin has provided troops and equipment to separatist rebels, and the economic crisis sparked by Western sanctions over Ukraine and the plunge in oil prices.
Organizers cancelled the march and said they would seek permission to hold a mourning rally for Nemtsov on Sunday. City authorities had made no decision on that by midday.
Through the morning, hundreds of people came to the site of Nemtsov's death to lay flowers. One Moscow resident, identified only as Vera, said she was shocked at hearing news of the killing.
"There is lawlessness that is spreading in our country," she told Reuters Sunday. "I myself lost two young people in the 1990s. And now — you see, near the Kremlin walls. It is lawlessness, a nightmare. Nightmare, nightmare, nightmare. I didn't sleep all night, I don't know how one can live in this type of country. Even though I didn't like him much — maybe didn't know something — but now I'm in shock, I'm in shock."
Medics carry the body of Nemtsov, who was shot dead on while walking a bridge near the Kremlin. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
Another man who brought flowers to the makeshift memorial site, who gave his name as Alexander, said the shooting appears intended as a message to others.
"Because, for me it is a symbol of a person who was fighting against the current regime, who was always honest and I see this as an action aimed at terrorizing people," he said. "I want to say that we are not afraid. I think we need to pay our respect to him. It's just the beginning, and the least I can do is at least bring some flowers."
Harper praises 'fearless advocate of democracy'
Prime Minister Stephen Harper released a statement late Friday, calling the murder a "shameful act of violence."
"I was shocked and saddened to learn of the murder of leading Russian opposition figure and former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov," Harper said.
"Mr. Nemtsov will be remembered as a fearless advocate of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Russia. A leader unafraid to voice essential truths, even in the face of violent intimidation, he was also a prominent opponent of Russia's aggression in Ukraine and the illegal occupation of Crimea," he said in the statement.
Nemtsov has been detained by Russian police on multiple occasions. Here is seen surrounded by riot police during a demonstration in 2011. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)
Nemtsov was working on a report presenting evidence that he believed proved Russia's direct involvement in the separatist rebellion that has raged in eastern Ukraine since April. Moscow denies backing the rebels with troops and sophisticated weapons.
Putin ordered Russia's top law enforcement chiefs to personally oversee the investigation of Nemtsov's killing.
"Putin noted that this cruel murder has all the makings of a contract hit and is extremely provocative," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Nemtsov committed his life to a more democratic Russia, "and to strong relationships between Russia and its neighbours and partners, including the United States."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised Nemtsov's courage in criticizing Kremlin policies, and urged Putin to insure that the killers are brought to justice, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev echoed the suggestion that the killing was a provocation. "It's an attempt to push the situation into complications, maybe even to destabilizing the situation in the country," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov agreed. "It's a provocation; for big fires, sacrificial figures are necessary," Interfax quoted him as saying.
Critical of corruption, Ukraine policy
Nemtsov frequently assailed the government's inefficiency, rampant corruption and Ukraine policy.
Nemtsov on Putin's strategy13:22
In an interview with the Sobesednik newspaper, Nemtsov said earlier this month that his 86-year old mother was afraid that Putin could have him killed. Asked if he had such fears himself, he responded: "If I were afraid I wouldn't have led an opposition party."
Speaking on radio just a few hours before his death, he accused Putin of plunging Russia into crisis by his "mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine."
Nemtsov's lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, said the politician had received threats on social networks and told police about them, but authorities took no steps to protect him.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Alexeyeva told reporters that Nemtsov was walking with a female acquaintance, a Ukrainian citizen, when a vehicle drove up and unidentified people shot him. The woman wasn't hurt and was being questioned by police.
Russia 'rolling into the abyss'
Kasyanov, the former prime minister, said he was shocked.
"In the 21st century, a leader of the opposition is being demonstratively shot just outside the walls of the Kremlin!" Kasyanov told reporters as Nemtsov's body, placed in a plastic bag, was removed on a rainy and cold night, as the Kremlin bells chimed nearby. "The country is rolling into the abyss."
"This is a monstrous tragedy and a loss for us all," Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition figure, said on his Facebook page. He is currently on a 15-day jail sentence for handing out leaflets without authorization.
Garry Kasparov, a former chess champion who worked with Nemtsov to organize protests against Putin and now lives in the United States, said the killing shows that Putin and those who support him are lying when they say their popular support is strong.
A memorial began to take shape on Moskvoretsky bridge near St. Basil Cathedral soon after news broke that Boris Nemtsov had been shot and killed. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
"If you have 86 per cent support, why do you kill someone like Boris?" he said.
Opposition activist Ilya Yashin, who last spoke to Nemtsov two days before the killing, said he had no doubt that Nemtsov's murder was politically motivated.
"Boris Nemtsov was a stark opposition leader who criticized the most important state officials in our country, including President Vladimir Putin. As we have seen, such criticism in Russia is dangerous for one's life," Yashin said.
Nemtsov served as a regional governor and then a deputy prime minister in the 1990s and once was seen as a possible successor to Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first elected president. After Putin came to power in 2000, Nemtsov became one of his most vocal critics.
Nemtsov was widely liked for his good humour, larger-than-life character and quick wit, but he and other top opposition figures long have been purged from state television and steadily marginalized by the Kremlin.
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