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Putin vows to catch a killer

Russian president Vladimir Putin has vowed to do everything possible to bring to justice those responsible for the “vile” murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in a drive-by shooting near the Kremlin.

“Everything will be done so that the organisers and perpetrators of a vile and cynical murder get the punishment they deserve,” Mr Putin said in a telegram to Mr Nemtsov’s mother published on the Kremlin’s website.

Putin’s arch-rival shot dead near Kremlin

Mr Nemtsov, 55, was shot multiple times as he walked along the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge, not far from the Kremlin.

The attacker, who has not been identified, was in a white car that sped off after the attack.

Mr Putin told Mr Nemtsov’s 86-year-old mother, Dina Eidman, that his death was an irreparable loss and that he had “left his trace in Russia’s history, in politics and public life”.

Mr Nemtsov, who served as deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin’s presidency in the 1990s, “worked in significant posts during a difficult transitional period for our country,” Mr Putin said.

“He always directly and honestly announced his position, stood up for his point of view.”

Mr Putin, who has taken personal charge of the investigation, was quoted by the Kremlin as saying the crime “had all the hallmarks of a contract killing and is entirely provocative in nature”, suggesting it was aimed at smearing the authorities.

The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, also said the killing was aimed at “destabilising the situation in the country, at heightening confrontation” with the West.

Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev praised Mr Nemtsov as a “principled person” who “acted openly, consistently and never betrayed his views”.

He said he was “shocked at the cruel and cynical murder”.

United States president Barack Obama decried the “brutal” and “vicious murder”, which prompted the cancellation of a major opposition rally planned for Sunday, and urged Russia to conduct an impartial probe.

French president Francois Hollande called the killing a “hateful murder” of a “defender of democracy”, while British prime minister David Cameron said the “callous murder” must be investigated “fully, rapidly and transparently”.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, voicing “indignation” over the assassination, also called for a speedy, transparent probe.

Murder ‘meticulously planned’, investigators say

The brazen assassination was one of the highest-profile killings during Mr Putin’s 15 years in power and recalled the shooting of anti-Kremlin reporter Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down on Mr Putin’s birthday in October 2006.

The powerful Investigative Committee leading the probe said it was looking into a possible “provocation to destabilise the political situation in the country”.

Woman cries at scene of Boris Nemtsov shooting

There has been an outpouring of grief in Russia. Photo: AFP

Mr Nemtsov could have been “offered as a sacrifice” by those who are “not averse to using such a method to reach their political aims”, it suggested.

It suggested the murder was carefully planned, pointing to details of the weapon used and the killers’ knowledge of his movements.

“There is no doubt that the crime was meticulously planned, as well as the place chosen for the murder,” the Investigative Committee said, adding that they believed Mr Nemtsov was shot in the back from a car using a Makarov pistol, used by the Russian military and police.

They said that six cartridges found at the scene were manufactured by different companies, making them harder to trace.

The murder was committed by someone familiar with Mr Nemtsov’s plans, they added.

“According to the investigation, Boris Nemtsov was going with his female companion to his flat, which is not far from the scene,” the Investigative Committee said.

“And it’s obvious that the organisers and perpetrators of this crime were informed of his planned route.”

Mr Nemtsov was shot as he was walking with the woman along a bridge just metres from the Kremlin.

The Life News website identified the woman as a 23-year-old Ukrainian model.

One or more gunmen shot at Mr Nemtsov at least seven or eight times, investigators said.

They said initial hypotheses included a link to “Islamist extremism” and the Charlie Hebdo massacre, noting that Mr Nemtsov had received threats after he condemned the killings in Paris as well as “situation inside Ukraine”.

Body of Boris Nemtsov on Moskvoretsky bridge

Boris Nemtsov’s body clearly visible after his assassination. Photo: AFP

Nemtsov called for Putin to go in interview just hours before

Speaking on radio just hours before his murder, Mr Nemtsov sounded upbeat and urged Russians to join the planned opposition rally on Sunday.

“The key political demand is an immediate end to the Ukraine war,” he said on popular Echo of Moscow radio, adding that Mr Putin should quit.

The current regime had reached “a dead end in both domestic and foreign policies. They should go”, Mr Nemtsov said.

People lay flowers at the site where Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was killed, Kremlin in the background

Flowers are piling up at the murder scene. Photo: AFP

The former researcher rose to prominence as governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia and became a vice prime minister in the late 1990s under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin.

After leaving parliament in 2003, he led several opposition parties and groups.

A passionate orator with a rock-star image and popular with women, Mr Nemtsov was a key speaker at mass opposition rallies against Mr Putin’s return to the Kremlin in 2012.

He wrote a series of reports critical of corruption and misspending under Mr Putin.

In 2013, he said up to $30 billion of the estimated $50 billion assigned to the Olympic Games that Russia was to host in Sochi had gone missing.

The Kremlin has denied the claims.

“This is payback for the fact that Boris consistently, for many, many years fought for Russia to be a free democratic country,” opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov, who served as prime minister under Mr Putin, told reporters after visiting the murder scene.

“In the 21st century, in 2015, a leader of the opposition is shot dead by the Kremlin walls. It is beyond imagination.”

Washington led condemnation of the killing.

“We call upon the Russian government to conduct a prompt, impartial and transparent investigation into the circumstances of his murder and ensure that those responsible for this vicious killing are brought to justice,” Mr Obama said in a statement.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko called Mr Nemtsov a “bridge between Ukraine and Russia”.

“The murderers’ shot has destroyed it. I think it is not by accident.”

Child puts flower at scene of Boris Nemtsov shooting

President Putin how vowed to catch Nemtsov’s killers. Photo: AFP

March in honour of Nemtsov through city centre

A steady stream of people heaped flowers and photos of Mr Nemtsov and set candles at the site of the murder, with police closing off one lane of traffic to let them through.

Opposition activists have now scrapped the rally, while the authorities have permitted a march in memory of Mr Nemtsov through the city centre.

“We are in a new political reality,” one of the organisers, Leonid Volkov, said.

Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow radio, wrote that Mr Nemtsov, who leaves behind four children and an elderly mother, knew he was taking risks by openly criticising Mr Putin.

“But I will not leave Russia, who would fight then?” he quoted the veteran politician as saying.

AFP

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