Slaying pressure on Putin

Hunt for Kremlin killers

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish the killers of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov as opposition figures denounced what they called a “political murder” and Western leaders called for a probe.

The 55-year-old former deputy premier, a prominent Putin critic, was shot in the back as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin walls.

The latest assassination in a string of murders of opposition figures in Mr Putin’s 15 years in power brings back memories of the shooting of antiKremlin reporter Anna Politkovskaya on Mr Putin’s birthday in October 2006.

Mr Putin blamed the latest killing on foes trying to discredit the Kremlin, but vowed to the victim’s mother to do all he could so “the organisers and perpetrators of a vile and cynical murder get the punishment they deserve”.

Allies of Mr Nemtsov, an anti-corruption crusader who was deputy premier under Boris Yeltsin, linked the killing to his opposition to the Kremlin’s policies.

Hours before being shot, he had urged people to join an opposition rally calling for “an immediate end to the war in Ukraine”, adding Mr Putin should resign.

The rally was cancelled and Russia’s opposition was due to hold a march overnight, crossing the bridge where Mr Nemtsov died. Mourners filed across the bridge at the weekend, heaping flowers, candles and photos of Mr Nemtsov at the spot where he fell.

“This was ordered by Putin, without a shadow of a doubt,” mourner Alexander Badiyev said. “They have shown us what the fate will be of all those who are against them.”

Investigators said gunmen fired at least eight shots from a car as Mr Nemtsov walked with a woman named as Ukrainian model Anna Duritskaya, 23, who was unhurt.

Footage shown by Russian TVC channel from a distant camera showed the suspected killer running along the road and jumping into a waiting car, which sped off.

“There is already a list of unsolved political murders and attacks in Russia,” Amnesty International said. “We cannot allow Boris Nemtsov to become just another name on this list.”