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Thousands of Russians commemorate slain Kremlin critic Nemtsov (PHOTOS)

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Opposition supporters march in memory of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov in central Moscow on Feb. 24, 2019. The 55-year-old former first deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin was shot in the back several times just before midnight on Feb. 27, 2015 as he walked across a bridge a stone's throw from the Kremlin walls.
Photo by AFP

Supporters of the Russian opposition have gathered in Moscow and St. Petersburg to commemorate the life of Boris Nemtsov, a longstanding critic of the Kremlin and supporter of liberal democracy in Russia.

Nemtsov, who served as first deputy prime minister of Russia under President Boris Yeltsin in the late 1990s, was shot dead just before midnight on Feb. 27, 2015, as he crossed a bridge near the Kremlin. He was 55 years old.

According to White Counter, a non-governmental organization that calculates the number of attendees at rallies, 10,800 people took part in the Moscow rally. Many carried signs with pictures of Nemtsov and demanded that the bridge where the opposition politician was shot be renamed the Nemtsov Bridge.

Among the attendees were Alexey Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and the de facto leader of Russia’s opposition; former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov; and former Russian lawmaker Vladimir Ryzhkov.

Nemtsov was widely viewed as a friend of Ukraine, supporting the country both during the 2004 Orange Revolution and the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2013-2014. He also actively opposed Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula and its invasion of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

At the time of his death, Nemtsov was preparing to publish a report on Russia’s direct involvement in the war in Ukraine.