Holding placards saying “I am not afraid,” thousands of Russians yesterday marched in Moscow in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, whose murder has widened a split in society that some say could threaten Russia’s future.
Many carried portraits of Nemtsov, who was shot dead while walking home in central Moscow on Friday night.
“If we can stop the campaign of hate that’s being directed at the opposition, then we have a chance to change Russia. If not then we face the prospect of mass civil conflict,” opposition leader Gennady Gudkov told reporters before the march. “The authorities are corrupt and don’t allow any threats to them to emerge. Boris was uncomfortable for them.”
Photo: Reuters
Putin has vowed to pursue those who killed Nemtsov, calling the murder a “provocation.”
National investigators who answer to the Russian leader said they are pursuing several lines of inquiry, including the possibility that Nemtsov, a Jew, was killed by Muslim militants or that the opposition killed him to blacken Putin’s name.
Putin’s opponents said such suggestions show the cynicism of Russia’s leaders as they whip up nationalism, hatred and anti-Western hysteria to rally support for his policies on Ukraine and deflect blame for an economic crisis.
“It is a blow to Russia. If political views are punished this way, then this country simply has no future,” opposition leader Sergei Mitrokhin said of Nemtsov’s slaying.
Some Muscovites, accepting a line repeated by state media, appear to agree that the opposition, struggling to make an impact after a clampdown on dissent in Putin’s third spell as president, might have killed one of their own.
Some young people walking in central Moscow asked: “Who is Nemtsov anyway?”
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