Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken member of the opposition of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot and killed on Friday. Thousands of Russians gathered in Moscow to mourn his death and authorities are trying to assure citizens that his murder will be investigated.
Nemtsov, 55, was killed while walking across a bridge with a female friend in Moscow at around 11:40 p.m. local time. He was shot four times in the back, the Interior Ministry said, reports USA Today. There were at least seven shots from several assailants, but his companion was not hurt.
The shooting was just two days before Nemtsov was supposed to make an appearance at an anti-government rally.
Putin was quick to condemn the murder and is even going to handle the case personally. Police also said that they will try to find the killers. State-run media says that authorities did find surveillance tape and have the licence plate numbers for the vehicle the killers escaped in.
“There is no doubt that the crime was carefully planned," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement today, notes CNN. "It is obvious that the organizers and perpetrators of this crime were aware of the proposed route."
Nemtsov, who was deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, was a member of the RPR-Parnassus party, notes BBC News. He said earlier this month that he feared Putin would kill him. Nemtsov had been arrested several times, most recently in 2012.
“I believe that he was the one who unleashed the war in the Ukraine,” he told the Russian site Sobesednik. “I couldn't dislike him more.”
Overnight, people began laying flowers at the site of Nemtsov’s death.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned Nemtsov’s murder and asked 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.”
Obama, who said he met Nemtsov in 2009, added, “We offer our sincere condolences to Boris Efimovich's family, and to the Russian people, who have lost one of the most dedicated and eloquent defenders of their rights.”
screenshot from RT YouTube video
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