An outspoken rival of Vladimir Putin was assassinated in the heart of Moscow on Friday evening — just two days before he was scheduled to lead a massive protest against the Russian president.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was walking with a Ukrainian woman across a bridge near the Kremlin when the gunman jumped out of a white car and pumped four bullets into him. The killer then got back inside and sped off.
Nemtsov had been a vocal critic of Putin and had published a series of reports accusing the president and his inner circle of corruption. When he was killed Nemtsov was working on a new report presenting evidence Russia supplied Ukrainian rebels with troops and sophisticated weapons. The government has denied direct involvement.
He said in an interview earlier this month that he was afraid that the president would have him killed, The Guardian reported.
And his lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, said Nemtsov had told police about threats he received on social networks, but authorities did nothing to protect him, USA Today reported.
Hours before he died, Nemtsov had called on fellow Russians to take part in the march, which in addition to protesting Putin was also a demonstration against the war in Ukraine.
The protest had been scheduled for Sunday in a Moscow suburb.
Another organizer, Alexei Navalny, was jailed for 15 days ahead of the march.
Nemtsov, 55, had served as deputy prime minister under the late President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s. He earned a reputation as an economic reformer while he was mayor of one of the country’s biggest cities, Nizhny Novgorod, the BBC said.
Although Putin and his pals have been known to harass opposition figures, the murder of Nemtsov was the first assassination of a political figure in Moscow in a decade, the British newspaper The Independent said.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, claimed that the murder was merely an attempt at “provocation” — and he would take “personal control” of the investigation, according to The Guardian.
“Putin noted that this cruel killing has all the signs of a hit, and is a pure provocation,” said Peskov.
President Obama condemned “the brutal murder’’ and urged Russia to “ensure that those responsible for this vicious killing are brought to justice.’’
He called Nemtsov a “tireless advocate for his country, seeking for his fellow Russian citizens the rights to which all people are entitled.’’
US Sen John McCain (R-Ariz) tweeted that he was “very saddened’’ by the murder.
McCain had met with Nemtsov in June, 2013, and afterward described him in a tweet as a “friend’’ and “a great champion of human rights.’’
Additional reporting by Harry Shuldman