Boris Nemtsov's murder leaves Russian opposition bowed, not beaten
CBC Radio | Posted: March 3, 2015 12:45 PM | Last Updated: March 3, 2015
Four days after the murder of a Russian opposition leader, Moscow remains uneasy.
"I doubt that it was a direct order from Putin. But this toxic atmosphere of hatred has been promulgated by Russian television 24/7. People like Boris Nemtsov have been called a fifth column, enemies of the state, national traitors. I think that some of Putin's cronies decided they could move even further because murder, blood, death, destruction, they are just regular guests on Russian television." - Gary Kasparov
What chess Grandmaster, Gary Kasparov sees happening in Russia today is no game. Like everyone in the opposition to president Vladimir Putin, the chess master is left wondering what the future holds, now that a towering member of their ranks has been toppled.
Boris Nemtsov, former deputy prime minister in the Yeltsin government and outspoken Putin critic was shot to death within hundreds of metres of the Kremlin on Friday. He was honoured by tens of thousands of marchers on the weekend.
Today the mourning has continued for Boris Nemtsov.
Ivan Nechepurenko is a reporter with the English-language newspaper, The Moscow Times. He's been at the memorial service before the funeral, in Moscow.
For more on what this death means for the future life of the opposition in Russia, we were joined by Karen Dawisha. She is director of the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. And she's the author of, "Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia".
This segment was produced by The Current's Gord Westmacott and Sujata Berry.
RELATED LINKS
♦ Nemtsov joins long list of those assassinated in post-Soviet Russia - The Christian Science Monitor