Paul Roderick Gregory: Can Nemtsov be murdered near Kremlin without official cooperation?
This combination picture made on Feb. 28 shows (from top to bottom, from left to right) Russian Human Rights activist Natalia Estemirova during a press conference in Grozny, Chechnya, on July 26, 2007, Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky during a memorial to murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in London, on October 13, 2006, leader of the Liberal Russia party Sergei Yushenkov during the congress of the movement 'Liberal Russia' in Moscow on February 08, 2003, former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko during a press conference in London on September 14, 2004, Russian opposition leader and former cabinet minister Boris Nemtsov during a press conference in Moscow on August 17, 2007, an undated and unlocated handout image made available on January 20, 2009 by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta of Russian human-rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, a handout photo provided on November 15, 2010 by Hermitage Capital Management and taken on December 29, 2006 of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in Moscow, an undated and unlocated handout image made available on January 20, 2009 by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta of Russian Novaya Gazeta reporter Anastasiya Baburova, and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya of Moscow's Novaya Gazeta newspaper speaking in New York on October 16, 2002. The list of Kremlin opponents who have been killed or died in suspicious circumstances in recent years got longer with the slaying of prominent opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in central Moscow on Feb. 27.
Vladimir Putin describes the Russian state as a power vertical, in which power is exercised at the very top. All authority descends from Putin himself and those below carry out his orders. According to this self description, nothing of importance can happen without the approval of the person atop the vertical. Under this logic, the contract killing of a major opposition figure falls under the direct responsibility of Putin. Calls by Merkel and Obama for justice are therefore really demands that the Kremlin investigate and bring itself to justice. Another case of Alice in Wonderland.
