By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In another setback for political change in Russia, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down by several men who shot him four times in the back while he traversed a bridge along with a Ukrainian woman. Boris was to speak before a peace rally denouncing Russian involvement in the hostilities in the Ukraine, economic policies, and other issues.
Boris, a former deputy-prime minister, is an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The crime scene was within two hundred meters of the Kremlin.
In a not so reassuring gesture, President Putin vowed to personally take charge of the investigation.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president expressed his condolences and ordered security agencies to investigate.
Peskov said the shooting could also have been a “provocation,” considering that Nemtsov was planning to participate in a big protest organized by the opposition in Moscow on Sunday, Deutsche Welle reported.
President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko conveyed his condolences. Among other media he stated in Twitter, “Shock. Borys was murdered. It is hard to believe. I have no doubt that murderers will be brought to justice. Sooner or later. Rest in peace.”
Boris began his high profile political career as governor of Nizhny Novgorod. He rose to the position of deputy prime minister under the Yeltsin administration during the 1990’s. Boris joined the political opposition to Vladimir Putin when he became powerful in 2000.
In the lead-up to another rally, police forces in Moscow began jailing and harassing activists aligned against President Putin. Activist Alexei Navalny was arrested and is to be held for fifteen days after he was seized handing out leaflets in a Moscow subway. The leaflets contained information for the upcoming rally that was to be critical of the government and its handing of affairs including the economy and other issues important to various Russians.
According to the BBC, Boris less than three weeks before his murder, on 10 February, he said “I’m afraid Putin will kill me”. This textual (but not video or audio) statement appeared on Russia’s Sobesednik news website.
Boris has at least four prior arrests by police relating to his speaking and organizing political rallies in opposition to President Putin or the government in general: in 2007; 2010; and twice in 2011.
This assassination of a high-profile political opponent having a provenance at his level could be a sign of things to come in Russia for President Putin–either a strengthening of his grip on power or to establish inertia for his opponents. But with his polling levels remaining high, this inertia might prove more sedentary.
By Darren Smith
Sources:
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
The state auditor for Missouri was just found dead, from an apparent suicide, seven minutes after getting off the phone with reporters from the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the AP, confirming an appointment to speak with them later that afternoon. Apparently, he wanted to discuss some widespread corruption within the Republican party, including his allegations of antisemitic slurs aimed against him. His grandfather was Jewish; he was not. Sounds like a suicide to me. Right.
everyone is jumping to conclusions…..it could be:
1. that Putin was behind it
2. It could be that CIA / other western intelligence agency was behind it
3. It could be some other disgruntled group was behind it….
One can make a rational case for either…the first one appears to be the simple answer because that is what we would like to believe and propagate to the rest of the world……we are certainly not going to claim the second scenario….
Yes, and to Jill’s post, there is a total blackout in the US MSM….NYT, WAPO, WSJ…..etc on the Chicago story; though in fact that has the biggest bearing on our freedoms.
Seriously folks whats the matter with you? You know it had to be the CIA and the Mossad behind this. Just ask Po. Don’t be so superficial and common!
We only want super duper conspiracy theories. The simple answer is never right!
Darren, I’m putting this information here because it’s not getting coverage and it relates to this post.
“”The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation
compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys
while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA
black site.
The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as
Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police
units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the
better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that
deny access to basic constitutional rights.
Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with
the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into
Chicago police abuse, include:
Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
Shackling for prolonged periods.
Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility.
Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours,
including people as young as 15.”
At least one man was found unresponsive in a Homan Square “interview room”
and later pronounced dead.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-
It can and is happening here.
Karen,
Hillary’s response as a future president may be the same chilling remark, “What difference does it make”. Or be first female to use nukes. Something like that, just a wild guess. See you on the other side when the smoke clears.
randy – I agree.
Putin has made no secret that he wants to recreate the USSR, even expanding its former boundaries. Clearly Obama is over faced by the Bear of Russia, and is impotent to check him. I don’t know, though, maybe Hillary can hand Putin a Reset Button and make everything all better.
“In a not so reassuring gesture, President Putin vowed to personally take charge of the investigation.”
Reminds me of O.J. vowing to look for Nicole’s murderer.
We assassinate political opponents personally and politically, not poisoning and shooting. Although, if I were Elizabeth Warren or any opponent of Hillary, I might not wait for SS protection and hire some bodyguards.
Of course this would never happen in the good ol’ US of A.
“Round up the usual suspects.” Too many people know not even the basics of current events. Putin is ex KGB. ‘Nuff said. I guess I would rather get a bullet to the head than poisoned w/ radiation like Alexander Litvinenko.
lets hope this opens some eyes in Russia
In broad daylight, next to the Kremlin.
Not staged as a robbery in the victim’s apartment.
The message is not merely that Putin will kill his enemies, but will do so whenever he chooses, and doesn’t care if you know.
In 2003, Nemtsov said up to $30 billion of the $50 billion assigned to the Olympic Games Russia was to host in Sochi had gone missing.
While not an exact copy, this reminds me of the assassination of Kirov under Stalin. Kirov while not in opposition to Stalin had the misfortune to get more votes than Stalin in the election to the Politburo, while Stalin got the least. The members who voted were allowed to not vote for some candidates even though there were only enough candidates for the positions. So no matter the vote, all candidates were elected. After that vote, Stalin changed the rules so that ALL candidates HAD to be voted on. Kirov was a generally well liked and regarded person, and that was enough to get him killed.
The result of the investigation yielded the predictable scapegoat. I think this may well yield the same for this murder.
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
This is the latest in a long history of assassinations of prominent people in Russia. Many have been investigative journalists. Russian history does not give an expectation that the killers will be found and punished. (After the death of Stalin, there were no “Nuremberg” trials for his henchmen.) The investigations may turn up a couple of hapless Chechens that had nothing to do with it, but will be convicted nonetheless. What a sad country…
“Within two hundred meters of the Kremlin”? The shooters must have been on their coffee break….
Paul,
Putin stated, that he will be personally in charge of this investigation. No ifs ands or buts! First things first. A little more target practice at the range with Putin.
I do not expect any arrests soon. In fact, Putin’s fingerprints are probably on one of the guns.