At 11:30 pm on Friday 27 February 2015, Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken Russian opposition leader, was shot in the back. The assassin fired off six shots; four of the bullets struck Nemtsov, one in the heart. He died instantly. The only explanation not being given in Moscow for Nemtsov’s assassination is the blindingly obvious one: that Nemtsov was murdered for his opposition activities and, specifically, for his very public criticism of Vladimir Putin’s secret war in Ukraine.
Luke Harding
is a British journalist with The Guardian and author of the book Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of the Brutal New Russia (Guardian Books, 2012). From 2007 until 2011 he was the Guardian‘s Moscow correspondent. He is currently based in London.