Putin: Murder of my vocal critic an attempt to discredit Kremlin

[DonViejo]

Source: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
01 MAR 2015 AT 09:27 ET

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

The 55-year-old former deputy premier, a vocal Putin critic prominent at opposition rallies, was shot in the back several times just before midnight Friday as he walked across a bridge a stone’s throw from the Kremlin walls.

The brazen assassination is the latest in a string of murders of opposition figures in Putin’s 15 years in power and recalls the shooting of anti-Kremlin reporter Anna Politkovskaya, gunned down on Putin’s birthday in October 2006.

Putin blamed the latest killing on foes trying to discredit the Kremlin, but vowed Saturday in a message 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.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/putin-murder-of-my-vocal-critic-an-attempt-to-discredit-kremlin/

[FLPanhandle]

1. Nice spin. So, Putin is the real victim here.

I'm sure someone will buy that, afterall PT Barnum wasn't wrong.

[cstanleytech]

12. What, you didnt get the memo?? Putin is "always" the victim. nt

[Cha]

20. Exactly.. as we've been sayin'.. poor poor putin..

Leave him Alone!

[groundloop]

2. Certainly Putin will carry through with his promise for justice

And I believe it almost as much as I believed W. when he vowed to prosecute whomever outed Valerie Plame.

[cstanleytech]

13. Well W. never said that he wouldnt pardon or commute their sentence

[randr]

3. A proven pathological liar and very dangerous

He will be a hard man to topple with his gangs of goons terrifying Russian citizens. As an American with Russian ancestry I hope for the best but find it hard to believe they can overcome their history of oppression.

[Throd]

4. Perhaps he can team up with OJ Simpson to find the "real killers".

[MBS]

5. All of the comments so far (1-4) are great - thanks! n/t

[MBS]

11. thumbs-up to the next round (6-10), too!

I would hope that most Russians must see through this farcical response, even if they don't dare say so publicly. . .

[geek tragedy]

6. headline says it all nt

[CanonRay]

7. What a croc

does he think anybody actually believes this? I suspect he doesn't give a crap.

[freshwest]

22. Doesn't give a crap is right. It's all about business for Putin, a Russian billionaire.

[moondust]

8. Violent deaths of Putin opponents

April 2003 - Liberal politician Sergey Yushenkov assassinated near his Moscow home

July 2003 - Investigative journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin died after 16-day mysterious illness

July 2004 - Forbes magazine Russian editor Paul Klebnikov shot from moving car on Moscow street, died later in hospital

October 2006 - Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya shot dead outside her Moscow apartment

November 2006 - Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died nearly three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium in London hotel

March 2013 -Boris Berezovsky, former Kremlin power broker turned Putin critic, found dead in his UK home

(Nemtsov) was gunned down a stone's throw away from the Kremlin, in an area which is always tightly policed, and where security cameras are everywhere you look. He was, it appears, tracked for hours as he travelled around central Moscow.

(Police officers have) trawled through Mr Nemtsov's flat in central Moscow, seizing documents and computer drives.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31673297

[geek tragedy]

15. Bastards. No doubt what they will do with

those seized files and documents.

[Matilda]

17. Seems "everybody knows" but Putin is never called to account.

A majority of Russians approve of Putin's actions and seem to want to go back to the "glory days" of the old Soviet Union. The opposition liberals only have a strong following in the big cities, apparently.

It appears most Russians have forgotten that a march like yesterday's couldn't have taken place in the old days. They all lived in fear of the KGB snitches who inhabited every apartment block; they weren't allowed to shop at the big stores; they couldn't travel or read foreign books or listen to "decadent" Western music; bread queues were a regularity; and every detail of their personal and working lives were scrutinised. Never mind the thousands who disappeared into the gulags.

But Russia was feared by the West, and the Russians seem to long for that to happen again, whatever the cost, and that's the audience Putin is playing to.

And the West, dreading another Cold War, seems disinclined to call Putin's bluff.

[PosterChild]

18. Wow! I wouldn't have believed it...

... but so many deaths cannot be "just a coincidence" ! ! Someone is out to get Putin!!

[Cha]

21. Wow.. thanks for that info, moondust.. on the deaths of Putin's opposition.. damn! :(

[freshwest]

23. But good for freedom of the press, or so I read. Just ignore all that data.

[RiverNoord]

9. Supposedly one angle the 'investigative team' (which reports directly the Kremlin) is pursuing is

that an opposition group somehow killed him in order to 'disrupt' the country. Americans are pretty good at letting themselves get suckered - many still believe that Iraq was in some way involved with Al-Qaeda before 9/11. However, that one's a doozy, and things are getting really ugly in Russia.

The psychology of actually buying into such lies seem pretty similar, though. If you supported the Cheney administration's push for war in Iraq, it's very difficult to accept that even Cheney himself is now saying 'I never said that Al-Qaeda was involved with Iraq.' (That he gets away with such bizarre lies is part of the phenomenon). If you're a Russian and generally support Putin, you just can't buy into the idea that he and his government (ex-KGB and a guy who has become a multi-billionaire while in office...) would have Russians killed for opposing him.

Of course, Cheney is alive and will never see prison for his ghastly lies - will Putin eventually get to retire and enjoy his billiions in Russia? We don't share Russia's modern history of purges when new leadership emerges. Someone like Putin probably has to keep the heat on non-stop so that he doesn't go down in a purge. Not really a recipe for a positive future for Russia...

[tabasco]

10. Putin foes: "Let's kill our very effective and popular leader to discredit Putin!"

Last edited Mon Mar 2, 2015, 12:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Okey dokey, Vlad.

[christx30]

16. A dog, standing among the

remains of destroyed couch cushions. The caption under the picture says, "look at what the cat did."

[tavernier]

14. A narcissistic sociopath

is never at fault.

http://truthlover5.com/2012/12/07/profile-of-a-sociopath-charming-manipulative-grandiose-lying-narcissitic-authoritarian-secretive/

[Jefferson23]

19. Bizarre statement..what a Freudian field day this guy is..'cause getting murdered in front

of the Kremlin with all those fucking cameras was caused by someone more paranoid than you?

[Cha]

24. Thousands March In Moscow To Mourn Death Of Boris Nemtsov.. "I am not afraid".. thought you'd like

to know, Jefferson..

MOSCOW (AP) — Carrying flowers, portraits and signs that said "I am not afraid," tens of thousands of people somberly marched Sunday in Moscow to mourn opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, whose slaying on the streets of the capital has shaken Russia's beleaguered opposition.

The mourners marched to the bridge near the Kremlin where Nemtsov was gunned down shortly before midnight Friday. Chanting "we'll not forget, we'll not forgive" and waving Russian flags, the crowd filled the road along the Moscow River embankment. Many tied black ribbons to railings along the way.

The mood was somber, with heavy security. Police helicopters flew overhead and police boats patrolled the river.

MOre..
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/world-news/march-moscow-boris-nemstov?utm_content=bufferffb9d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[Jefferson23]

25. Thank you, Cha. They are saying all the right things, yet the reality is unfortunately that

Russian opposition will be more afraid, and with good reason. I am so angry over this assassination,
I can't even articulate how much so...just devastating for them.

[Cha]

28. ..

Boris Nemtnov

[ladjf]

26. Hmm. nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. And Pooty Poot never lies.

[WestSeattle2]

29. I suspect our friends from Langley were behind it...stirring

the pot, trying to incite riots and rebellion against Putin. A lot cheaper than war.

[coyote]

30. I agree with you

This makes no sense to do while Putin has an 80% approval rating.