generalspeaking

Vile and Cynical, Oh Yes

"If you consider Putin a calculating, smart person who precisely and coldly weighs all the pros and contras, and the whole world sees him that way, getting rid of Nemtsov was not just meaningless but damaging to him, and it did damage him."
Irina Khakamada, colleague, political ally of Boris Nemtsov

"In the past year, Putin has convincingly proven that he has different views than uninformed commentators on what benefits him and what doesn't."
"He showed he was ready to take war, losses, sanctions, international isolation -- all for the sake of his own sacral and strategic goals that he alone understands."
Vladimir Milov,  friend and colleague of Boris Nemtsov, LiveJournal post

"I shared his views: that we need to build a more open, democratic, human state with normal courts, normal police and normal investigators who would solve this kind of murder, which of course they never will."
"State television shouts all day long about destroying national traitors and the 'fifth column' in society. Well, look around you, this is the 'fifth column'. We are the traitors who they are so afraid of -- normal people who don't agree with the way the country is going."
Mikhail Gabay, 57, Moscow funeral of Boris Nemtsov

"He was our past, when we had some freedom in the Yeltsin times. Now there's no debate in society, no television to speak of and just crooks and thieves in power."
Vova Vdovin, 52, activist, Union of Right Forces party

"He was an important, influential figure. I saw him at the peace march in support of Ukraine last year. He said to me, 'People have been attacking you, you should hire a bodyguard'. But the didn't have one himself."
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, member, Pussy Riot feminist punk group

"I believe Boris's death was organized by the security services as a warning against dissent. The place where he was killed is covered constantly by Kremlin cameras and patrols, so it could not be done without their involvement."
Vladimir Milov, opposition activist

It would have been no surprise to Mr. Nemtsov, nor little comfort, to know that thousands of mourners waited for hours for the opportunity to pay their respects at his funeral four days after he was shot to death in an eerily-orchestrated political assassination whose attention to detail makes it more than adequately clear that this murder was ordered at an elite level by someone who must have murmured 'will no one rid me of this nuisance?'.

A kilometre-long line of mourners slowly moved past the 55-year-old former deputy prime minister's coffin before it was to be taken to Troyekurovskoye cemetery for burial. Mr. Nemtsov's worried mother was quite right; one does not continually criticize this government, much less Vladimir Putin, with impunity. There was a succession of earlier challengers to Mr. Putin's authority who became corpses before their allotted time on Earth was up.

What need did Mr. Nemtsov have of armed guards at that juncture, walking back from a dinner date with his girlfriend to his apartment? They were, after all, walking in the most secure area of Moscow. Closed-circuit video cameras everywhere, police everywhere, safety was guaranteed. All those security cameras near the Kremlin wall render an atmosphere of security. Unfortunately that area where the murder took place, according to Kommersant, had cameras turned off for repairs.

As Mr. Nemtsov and his girlfriend strolled along to his apartment, a snowplow was noticed by her, obscuring their view. It also happened to obscure the shooting in the only footage so far discovered. No random hit this. Ms. Dutitskaya's memory is blurred by the swiftness of events as she recalls them, that her companion was shot repeatedly in the back of his head, she saw nothing, nothing but a light-coloured vehicle (identified as a finance ministry security vehicle); there was a snowplow in the way....

For his part, Vladimir Putin is outraged that this kind of thing happens in his Russia. He will personally oversee the investigation to ensure that justice is done, the perpetrators brought to justice. He was quick to send a condolence telegram to Mr. Nemtsov's mother where he characterized the murder of her son as "vile and cynical". "It is necessary to finally rid Russia of the shame and tragedies like the one that we lived through and saw quite recently. I mean the murder, the brazen murder of Boris Nemtsov right in the centre of the capital", he stated.

There are any number of theories about who might be responsible for the untimely death of this courageous critic of Russia's government and its Ukraine adventure. Evidently a video purporting to show a far-right Russian group active in eastern Ukraine claimed it carried out the killing. But then it was dismissed by the group's leader, Alexei Milchakov, as a fake. "We would have liked to bump him off but we wouldn't even have the money for the car," he confessed on social media.

Not to fret; when asked by reporters if there were any suspects in the murder, the head of Russia's FSB security service, Alexander Bortnikov, said: "There are always suspects."

Labels: Assassination, Crisis Management, Russia, Vladimir Putin

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, March 04, 2015