Vladimir uses the old Soviet standby to get rid of dissent.
From Fox News.
Russia’s top investigative body said Saturday it is looking into several possible motives for the killing of prominent opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, including an attempt to destabilize the state, Islamic extremism, the Ukraine conflict and his personal life.
A statement from the body, the Investigative Committee, did not address the possibility seen as likely by many of Nemtsov’s supporters — that he was killed for being one of President Vladimir Putin’s most adamant and visible critics.
Nemtsov was working on a report presenting evidence that he believed proved Russia’s direct involvement in the separatist rebellion that has raged in eastern Ukraine since April. Moscow denies backing the rebels with troops and sophisticated weapons.
In an interview with the Sobesednik newspaper, Nemtsov said earlier this month that his 86-year old mother was afraid that Putin could have him killed. Asked if he had such fears himself, he responded: “If I were afraid I wouldn’t have led an opposition party.”
Speaking on radio just a few hours before his death, he accused Putin of plunging Russia into crisis by his “mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine.”
The 55-year-old Nemtsov was gunned down Friday near midnight as he walked on a bridge near the Kremlin with a female companion. The killing came just a few hours after a radio interview in which he denounced Putin’s “mad, aggressive” policies and the day before he was to help lead a rally protesting Russia’s actions in the Ukraine crisis and the economic crisis at home.
After his death, organizers canceled the rally and instead called for a demonstration to mourn him on Sunday in central Moscow. The city gave quick approval for that gathering, in contrast to its usual slow and grudging permission for opposition rallies.
The Investigative Committee said it was looking into whether Nemtsov had been killed as a “sacrificial victim for those who do not shun any method for achieving their political goals,” a suggestion echoing the comments by Putin’s spokesman and other Russian politicians that the attack was a “provocation” against the state.
That’s funny, because Nemtsov’s activism was itself a “provocation” against the State. That’s why Putin had him wacked.
Russian human rights activists, Natalia Estemirova, Anna Politkovskaya, and Stanislav Markelov, were all murdered by unknown, unnamed assailants.
Russian opposition activist Artem Basyrov, was sent to a psychiatric hospital by authorities a day before a planned demonstration.
Putin also tightened his grip on the media by replacing the main news agency with one that will propagate his message without objections.
Vladimir Putin engineered his return to power through corruption, intimidation, murder, and setting up Dmitry Medvedev as a temporary sockpuppet. Putin’s domestic spying is also used as a weapon against outspoken critics and dissidents. Everything he does is a throwback to the old Soviet regime.
Vlad is an old KGB officer and never assimilated into the post-Soviet democratic movement.
Welcome to the neo-USSR.