In a context of extreme tensions, both on the domestic scene and on the international stage, the Russian society is in shock, following the death of Boris Netmstov. To analyse the consequences for Russia YoungDiplomats scanned the reactions of the Moscovite press.
The Assassination on the night of 28th Feburary, on a bridge in central Moscow, of the Kremlin’s opponent Boris Nemstov, 55, triggered an intense emotion in Russia. The day after the assassination , every newspapers ranging from the gouvernemental ones such as Rossiiskaia Gazera, to the most liberal ones such as Novaia Gazeta, put the murder of Nemtsov in the headlines of their newspapers. These was follows by mourning marches all across the capital and many cities of the Russian Federation.
Virtually , the entire assembly of the political spectrum expressed their stupor and their strong and indeniable condemnation of violence and crime , and personalities from all sides of political spectrum, lamended the loss of a man universally recognized as an extraordinary politician. They emphasized the fighting spirit and the perseverance, that he displayed since the beginning of his political career in the beginning of the 90’s , as a young governor of the region of Nizhny Novgorod and as a deputy prime minister under the presidency of Boris Yelstin ,the one of a liberal democracy-loving.
Yelstin even thought as him as his possible successor.
According to the chronichor of the popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, Mikhael Rostovsky, Netmstvo had never forgotten Yelstin’s words about “ the possibility to make him his heir”, and about Putin, which was considered “ as a kind of usurper “ for which he felt a certain jealousy”.
The simple mandate elect of the Yaroslavl region he had at the time of his assassination made us forget that he had almost reach the supreme power in his youth. Indeed , as recalled by Moskovsky Komsomolets, “ it is now evolving on the outskirts of Russian political life, and was unlikely to return to the center”. However , no one in the country , had forgotten “his rebellious character , passionate and generous”.
Political Assassination
Russian liberal right is no longer represented in the Duma (Russian Parliament) since a long time, but it continues its political existence. At the head of the RPR- Parnas party and as a member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian opposition, Boris Nemtsov was implicated in all the protests acriss the country, and was repeatedly abused and even arrested by the authorities. Did it mean he felt his life was threatened?
The opposition newspaper Novai Gazeta believe so and published the same interview he granted in April 2014. “ I know they can kill me , he said it but they can not force me to shut up”. An Interview presented by the title as a “ testament”
“They” Killed him, but with what consequences for the country? Questions the press. Whatever the reasons for this, this is “ a political assassination for the simple reason that Nemtsov was a political player in the opposition,” said the Nezavisimaya Gazeta. And Russian power is put on notice by the outside world “ to demonstrate that he is wrong when he questions the Moscow ability to conduct a proper investigation” A logical doubt, say the title. And not only because of the war of information that is taking place in Russian and in Western Europe around the Ukrainian Conflict , but also because the Russian opposition is receiving heavy blows this last months from the Putin’s Government. “ how can we not see this murder as a logical step in the government logic, after condemening and throwing to jail other famous opponents such as Alexei Navalny and Serguei Oudalstov?”
An Attempt to destabilize the country
Nevertheless, the consequences will be severe. According to the newspaper Kommersant, “ the majority of political believe that the murder of Brois Nemstov is an attempt to destabilize the country”. The pists that the investigation is covering cover an extremely large spectrum, according to the magazine the Kremlin Expert. They range from the support of Nemtsov to Charlie Hebdo, to his criticisms toward the Chechnyen leader Ramzan Kdyrov, to its implications in the Ukrainian conflict (because of his links to the Ukrainian President Petro Porochenko, but also because of its contacts with the Russians Separatists). According to the polititologue Evgueni Minchenko , quoted by the title, the Kremly did not for his part , had an interest in the death of Nemtsov , “because , for the Kremlin , Nemtsov was an opposition figure comprenhensible and comfortable , who choose legal ways to expose his point of views compared to his colleagues”.
“By depriving opposition of its leaders , the central power is putting himself in a difficult situation , is claiming the expert Nikolay Petrov quoted by Lanezavissimai Gazeta, because in case of confrontation , there might be no negociators, as Nemtsov could have been. And this would have created a situation of chas in case of heavy protests “. “ The first reactions of the power and of the political elite , measured and rational , give hope in the reducation of the degree of hatred and violence that was widespread in the Russian Society in recent times , is claiming the expert Igor Bounine in the same newspaper. And if this paradigm change , even a little, we could hope for an evolution of the political system, but this depends on only one person”.
