Russian Liberal politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated across the street from the Kremlin today:
He was shot four times late on Friday night, not far from the Kremlin in the center of Moscow. Police cars blocked the street where he was shot. An ambulance was also nearby.
“Nemtsov B.E. died at 2340 hours as a result of four shots in the back,” an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said by telephone.
Nemstov was a long time Putin critic. He was shot on his way home from conducting a TV interview. He had been scheduled to be part of a major anti-war rally on March 1st
More: Russian Opposition Leader Nemtsov Shot Dead in Moscow
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More of Nemtsov’s background:
Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov (Russian: Борис Ефимович Немцóв; 9 October 1959 - 27 February 2015[1]) was a Russian statesman and liberal politician, a co-chair of the RPR-PARNAS political party, one of the leaders of the Solidarnost movement and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.
Nemtsov was the first governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (1991-97). Later he worked in Government of Russia as Minister of fuel and energy (1997), Vice Premier of Russia and Security Council member from 1997 to 1998. In 1998 he founded the Young Russia movement. In 1998, he co-founded the coalition group Right Cause and in 1999, he co-formed Union of Right Forces, electoral bloc and subsequently political party. He was elected several times as Russian parliament member. Nemtsov was a member of Congress of People’s Deputies (1990), Federation Council (1993-1997) and State Duma (1999-2003). He also worked as Vice Speaker of the State Duma and the leader of parliamentary group of Union of Right Forces. After a split in the Union of Right Forces in 2008, he co-founded Solidarnost. In 2010, he co-formed coalition For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption (was refused in registration as party). Since 2012 Nemtsov has been co-chair of Republican Party of Russia - People’s Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS), a registered political party.[2][3]
He was a candidate of physico-mathematical sciences, was as an author of several publications criticising the Putin administration, and was an active organizer and participant of Dissenters’ Marches, Strategy-31 and rallies «For Fair Elections»
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Putin is of course deeply concerned
Putin is already floating his own theory of what happened, according to Dmitry Zaks of AFP:
#BREAKING #Putin thinks #Nemtsov killed by hired assasin, views it as a (political) “provocation”: #Kremlin spokesman Peskov via state TV
- Dmitry Zaks (@dmitryzaksAFP) February 27, 2015
Less than an hour after Nemtsov death was reported, Putin entered into the controvsery around his death in a second way. Putin is “taking personal control of the investigation into Nemtsov’s murder,” according to a Kremlin spokesperson, someting that will not be reassuring to Putin’s opponents.
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Obituary from Radio Free Europe
Boris Nemtsov, A Russian Political ‘Golden Boy’ Who Battled Putin, Dead At 55
Once dubbed the “golden boy” of Russian politics in the media, Nemtsov was later named first deputy prime minister by Yeltsin, a move that many interpreted as the Russian leader’s bid to groom his heir to the Kremlin.
After Yeltsin handed over power to Putin, who was elected president in 2000, Nemtsov became a vocal critic of the new Russian leader as the Kremlin moved to stifle critical media outlets and launched a campaign against wealthy Yeltsin-era oligarchs who refused to toe the government’s line.
Nemtsov served as a deputy in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, during Putin’s first term. He lost his seat in 2003 parliamentary elections that saw the pro-Kremlin party United Russia seize an overwhelming majority.
In the ensuing years, he led an array of liberal-minded opposition movements and parties, and authored reports accusing Putin’s government of massive corruption.
In 2013, Nemtsov released a report alleging that officials and businessmen had stolen up to $30 billion in funds earmarked to finance the 2014 Winter Olympics in his hometown, Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.
“It is obvious that Putin’s friends are running the preparations for the Olympic Games,” Nemtsov told RFE/RL at the time. “It is also obvious that one is reluctant to put his own friends behind bars. However, we cannot look at all this passively because the scale [of their activities] will only grow bigger. The embezzlement they are presiding over is not just some kind of children’s game but a real threat to Russia’s national security.”
Charles JohnsonFollow @Green_Footballs
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Frank says: