Details of the shooting are unclear. There are reports that Nemtsov was shot four to seven times in the chest by multiple assailants who jumped out of a car on a bridge just south of Red Square. The shooting was professional and smooth, with well-aimed fire and no deaths of bystanders. The bridge served as a channel to trap the victim, giving him nowhere to run. The killing was also brazen, taking place near the Kremlin, which has heavy security and heavy CCTV coverage. He reportedly was walking with a woman from Kiev, who was approximately 24 years old, and without a security detail.
Nemtsov's relationship with the Kremlin has been tumultuous. Rising to power during the 1990s as the first post-Soviet governor of Nizhny Novgorod, he worked through the Kremlin's ministries, the Russian Security Council and then settled into the Duma. He led several political movements over the past two decades, most notably the Republican Party of Russia-People's Freedom Party and Solidarnost — liberal democratic movements that enthusiastically criticizes Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Nemtsov is among a group of established anti-Putin leaders that include Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Mikhail Kasyanov (People's Democratic Union), Garry Kasparov (Other Russia coalition) and Vladimir Ryzhkov (Republican Party of Russia). Nemtsov, like most of these leaders, has a mixed reputation in Russia. Much of the population associates Nemtsov with former President Boris Yeltsin's disastrous economic plan of the 1990s. But Nemtsov jumped onto the anti-Kremlin bandwagon of Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption blogger who is considered the chief opposition leader in Russia.
Navalny and his followers plan to hold mass rallies in Moscow and 14 other cities on March 1 — the first such rally possible since the 2011-2012 demonstrations against the Kremlin — to protest Russia's actions in Ukraine, the worsening economy and government corruption. The rally was meant to be led by Navalny and will include most of the other opposition groups, with the goal of bringing more than 100,000 demonstrators onto the streets in Moscow alone. The protest will be the first major test to see if a relatively effective opposition movement is still in Russia, particularly with the Kremlin boasting record-high popularity ratings for Putin.
The Kremlin granted permits for the rally, which will be held in a park on the outskirts of Moscow. The Kremlin also has increased the Interior Ministry troops and police presence on the streets. Concerns about the demonstration arose Feb. 27 after a Moscow court upheld a corruption conviction against Navalny and ordered him to report to jail on March 1 — meaning he would miss the rally.
Nemtsov's death makes this weekend's events even more important. The shooting will bring out a string of conspiracy theories in Russia because the Kremlin has long wanted Nemtsov out of the way. Nemtsov reportedly told the media just weeks ago that he feared Putin would kill him.
However, the Kremlin also knows that Nemtsov's death the day before the rally could spark a backlash and bring out more protesters. March 1 is a day to watch Moscow for the size of the protests, and whether Putin can maintain the peace. As Lenin said, the purpose of terrorism is to terrify. Nemtsov's death had the purpose of creating terror. The question is who wanted to create it.
