You're reading: Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov killed in Moscow

Boris Nemtsov, the Russian politician who became a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on the night of Feb. 27 in Moscow near Red Square. He had taken a vocal stance against the Russian military invasions of the Crimea and eastern Donbas.

An unidentified person shot him four times, according to Interfax news agency. Other news reports say he was killed from a car. According to the sources, he was taking a walk with a young woman.

Nemtsov, 55, was a leading political figure in Russia since the 1990s but recently held only a minor official position as a Yaroslavl regional council member. He also co-headed Parnas, an opposition bloc and served as a deputy prime minister and energy minister in the administration of President Boris Yeltsin.

In a Feb. 10 interview with Sobesednik newspaper, Nemtsov said he’s afraid that Putin might order his death.

Meanwhile, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov, said that the Russian president condemns the assassination and has ordered an investigation.

The high-profile murder drew responses from political leaders all over the world, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who said in a statement:

“The United States condemns the brutal murder of Boris Nemtsov, and we call upon the Russian government to conduct a prompt, impartial, and transparent investigation into the circumstances of his murder and ensure that those responsible for this vicious killing are brought to justice. Nemtsov was a tireless advocate for his country, seeking for his fellow Russian citizens the rights to which all people are entitled. I admired Nemtsov’s courageous dedication to the struggle against corruption in Russia and appreciated his willingness to share his candid views with me when we met in Moscow in 2009. We offer our sincere condolences to Boris Efimovich’s family, and to the Russian people, who have lost one of the most dedicated and eloquent defenders of their rights.”

Nemtsov’s murder takes out a major leader of the Russian anti-Putin movement on the eve of a Vesna protest that is supposed to take place March 1 in Moscow. Another major activist, Aleksey Navalny, is on three-year probation on politically motivated accusations of money laundering.

The scene of Boris Nemtsov’s murder. © TV Rain’s Twitter account

The opposition remains divided over foreign policy issues, with the nationalist part of it still partially supporting Russia’s war in the Donbas and annexation of Crimea, seeing occupied peninsula as a historical part of Russia. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a dissident and a former businessman, predicted a struggle of political elites for what Russa’s future should look like in his Feb. 26 lecture at London’s Chatham House.

A frequent guest on Ukrainian political shows, Nemtsov was a sharp-worded politician who was consistently delivering anti-Putin messages. In his Dec. 16 Facebook post, he predicted Russia’s financial default in the nearest future, given the size of the country’s foreign debt of almost $700 billion.

The logo of Vesna, an anti-Vladimir Putin protest to take place on March 1 in Moscow. Nemtsov used it for his Facebook account. © Boris Nemtsov’s Facebook page

“How did Putin manage to bring the country to such a deep crisis?” he wrote then. “How much should one steal? How much should he ruin the peace and normal relations? People should know the author of today’s crisis. This is Putin. He bears personal responsibility for Russia’s economic and financial collapse.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he’s shocked. “I have no doubts those guilty will be punished. Sooner or later.”

“I knew Boris Nemtsov for 25 years,” wrote Vitaliy Portnikov, a Ukrainian political commentator, on Facebook. “Boris Nemtsov managed to be a politician when there already was no politics in Russia – just banditism and insaneness. And he was a great guy. I loved him.”

Kyiv Post associate business editor Ivan Verstyuk can be reached at [email protected].