It was originally published on his blog here https://navalny.com/p/4156/.
March 3 was the funeral of Boris Nemtsov. I was not able to bid farewell to him. A Moscow court informed me that nothing extraordinary happened to suspend my administrative arrest for a few hours. It means, that I will visit him at Troekurovsky Cemetery later. Now he has enough time for all of us.
Being currently in jail, I have had a few days to think about what happened. Now I will try to share my thoughts with you and be as unemotional as possible in this case.
Opinion: Murdered on order by Putin
1. I think that Nemtsov was killed either by the state security service or by members of pro-government organization on the order of Russian political leaders (including Vladimir Putin). The question is how the order was worded, as: “You have to kill Nemtsov,” or “You should make a high profile act.”
Terrorist organizations run loose
2. Stop repeating the nonsense like “Boris was killed by the atmosphere of hatred.” What atmosphere are you talking about? We have had this atmosphere of hatred since 2007, but in the past few months we have witnessed the creation and rise of pro-government extremist and terrorist organizations that publicly declare the goal of fighting the opposition in situations when the police can’t do it.
Here are some biggest and most glaring examples:
The Bearded (pro-Kremlin Chechen leader Ramzan) Kadyrov’s desperados with machine guns at a stadium. This is a true illegal armed group led by the head of a federal subject who formally has no power to command rescue service guards. This is an evident crime, shown and praised by state TV channels.
The so-called “Anti-Maidan” (anti-revolution) is now made up of a crowd of people who are paid $10, as well as criminals and raiders from the outskirts of Moscow that came to replace football hooligans.
They had a lot of power during the times when (Boris) Gromov was governor of Moscow Oblast (2000-2012), but then were pushed to the sidelines. Now they are in demand again and are happy to serve.
Just ask any politician or businessman from Moscow Oblast about the shady practices of “Gromov’s Afganistan veterans” and you’ll hear many interesting stories. To get an idea of the psychological profile of a member of these organizations, have a look at the video, where an “Anti-Maidan” member who is the son-in-law of Gromov explains where they get their financing.
These organizations are created to perform acts of terrorism such as the night-time murder (of Nemtsov) on Moskvoretsky Bridge.
Extremists meet with Putin, cronies
3. The extremist, terrorist organizations I am writing about are created not based on a “silent request,” but directly at the meetings in the Kremlin. This is not a self-motivated activity, it’s Putin, (former Secret Service chief Nikolai) Patrushev, (presidential chief-of-staff Segei) Ivanov, (Secret Service Chief Alexander) Bortnikov, (first deputy chief-of-staff Vyacheslav) Volodin and whoever else is there. They have had meetings and hearings, they discuss and approve, create, finance and publish in the mass media. It was one of those meeting where they said to make a high profile act.
Murder, fear benefits Putin
4. I am begging you to stop the hypocritical lies about it being “not beneficial for Putin.” Who is it beneficial for, the Pope? It’s like everything is not beneficial for Putin.
The attempted murder of (journalist Oleg) Kashin (in 2010) was not beneficial. Illegal detentions are not beneficial. Election fraud when government ratings are high is not beneficial. Attacks on opposition figures are not beneficial.
Nethertheless, this is all happening all the time, and it’s happening because he does benefit from it. Don’t lie to yourselves. It is beneficial. Fear has to spread, economic problems should be compensated for by police control. If simple fabrication of criminal cases fails to drive fear to the required degree, you have to move on to ostentatious violence, otherwise nobody will believe that you’re cool.
To rephrase theatrical classics: if there are portraits of “Anti-Maidan” criminals or bearded desperados shown in the first act, they have to start shooting in the third act.
Those who say that “this is not beneficial for Putin” should go to the same corner with those who say that “Murderers were not beneficial for (Francois) Duvalier”, “Red Terror was not beneficial for (Joseph) Stalin”, “(Augusto) Pinochet invited people to stadium for football.”
(Editor’s Note: Duvalier was the president of Haiti between 1957 to 1971, and his rule resulted in murder of an estimated 30,000 Haitians. Stalin was a Soviet dictator who ruled the country for three decades preceding 1953, who imprisoned and killed millions. Pinochet of Chile in 1974 rounded up thousands of people and held them at a stadium, where many were killed.)
It is beneficial for Putin. Open a history book, it’s all written there.
Nemtsov’s moral authority ‘problematic’ for Kremlin
5. It’s roughly just as fair to say “Nemtsov was not popular and influential, what was the reason for killing him?”
Just take a minute to list in your head the opposition leaders, and think who had more moral influence than Nemtsov. I mean those whose acts have more impact and who create problems for the authorities that cannot be solved by a phone calls from the Kremlin to this “opposition figure” or their patron.
You’ll struggle to come up with even five names.
Boris was one of the most problematic figures for the Kremlin. I’m not saying it because I want to say nice things about the deceased friend, because it’s a fact.
— He was one of the few who revealed corruption of Putin and his cronies, publicizing specific names. How many are there who do the same? It is only allowed to talk about corruption as “a phenomenon.”
— He was an expert in the areas, that are sensitive for the Kremlin. Gazprom, fuel and energy sector, etc. His own and co-authored reports were one of the most powerful campaigns for public awareness for years. I know for a fact that they drove the bosses mad.
— He was a consistent liberal, open for dialogue with all political parties. He was able to talk with both the nationalists and the leftists.
— Very importantly, he was ready to participate in elections of all levels and was not afraid to lose. He did not pretend he was “so cool, that I will only run for president (or Duma)”.
— His election campaigns in Sochi and Yaroslavl were quite successful and could only be opposed by election fraud.
— Do you know of any opposition faction in a regional parliament, that makes so much stir, that forced everyone to take it into account, and even forced a deputy governor out? I do. This faction is Nemtsov in Yaroslavl regional parliament.
— He was good at mass media communications and easily mastered new types of media (show me any “influential” politician with so many followers on Facebook). And by the way, the videos he cut with Leonid Martynyuk have millions of views.
There are many good things that he did. Unlike others, Nemtsov kept acting rather than waiting for the regime to fall. This made him influential and dangerous for the regime.
Delusional Kremlin theories abound
6. The delusional theories around the murder suggested by a member of the investigative committee also point at the “Kremlin trail.”
They suggested the trail of ISIS, or murder as provocation – what nonsense!
Because the Central Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee only deals with fabrication of cases and public relations stints like starting cases on“genocide” and “ the Right Sector,” we cannot expect anything from them but lies and attempts to cover up the real organizers.
You needn’t go further than the Kashin (murder attempt) case. They worked on every theory except the most evident one: Turchak and Yakemenko. The investigators are protecting them.
(Editor’s Note: Andrei Turchak is governor of Pskov Region, leader of the youth wing of United Russia ruling party, whose father is friends with Putin, and Vasily Yakemenko, head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, a close ally of Vyacheslav Surkov, a close ally of Putin. Kashin investigated both).
The same will happen in this case. Just imagine that the Investigative Committee discovers that Nemtsov was killed by “Anti-Maidan” or some “Hero of Russia” from Chechnya.
Let’s also presume that they find the motive of crime, which is “protection of misinterpreted interests of V.V. Putin.” What is next? Will they announce that? We understand that they are more likely to announce that the murder was planned by (Boris) Berezovsky just before he died (in 2013).
Yaroslavl authorities also suspects
7. The only realistic theory behind this crime which should be considered that is not connected to the federal government is the one connected to the regional government. Nemtsov was a problem for the Yaroslavl governor and local crooks and thieves. During our last meetings Boris told me about the fraud schemes he has revealed and how the regional government hates him.
Need for fast, transparent investigation
8. Can my theory of this murder be a mistake? I am confident about it, but certainly any human can err.
But the only only thing that can disprove my theory is the immediate solution of this murder and identification of not just actual perpetrators of the crime, but identification of those who ordered it. It should be followed by an open court hearing and full disclosure of evidence and documents in the case. There should be no classified information. If there is sensitive personal information, then the relatives and lawyers should have full access and assure the public that there are no grey areas or gaps in the investigation of the murder of Boris Nemtsov.
