This nugget would
have received far more attention had news not emerged from the Soviet Union
Mother Russia that Vladimir Putin’s “fiercest critic”, Boris Nemtsov, was
gunned down like a dog in a “politically motivated” “contract killing” in the
shadow of the Kremlin as he crossed the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge which spans the Moskva River
just outside St. Basil’s Cathedral in the heart of Moscow. He was shot four
times in the back.
Few Russkies own guns
so when comrades are murdered, particularly when they are prominent politicians,
notable businessmen, or journalists, it is an ordered execution and the
assailant is never identified.
Among those who have
died this way were journalists Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot in the elevator of her
home in 2006, and Paul Klebnikov, who was shot in the back on the street in
2004.
Such murders often go
unsolved because of the interwoven nature of criminality and Russian
officialdom. In the Politkovskaya case, for instance, it was established that
one of the killers was with the FSB, the Russian security agency. But the
trail went cold after that; no higher-ups were ever fingered.
Since 2000, there
have been at least 16 journalists murdered in Russia. In not a single case has
the person who ordered the killing been arrested and in the majority of cases,
the mastermind has been neither identified nor sought.
The FSB is permeated
with siloviki loyal to their roots that go
back to the Bolsheviks’ first political police known as the Cheka.
All important decisions in Russia are made and carried out
by a tiny group of men who served alongside Comrade Colonel Putin in the KGB and
who come from his home town of St Petersburg.
It is important to
note that the BBC
is reporting that Nemtsov was murdered in an area “which is always tightly
policed and where security cameras are everywhere you look.”
Putin
ordered Russia's top law enforcement chiefs to personally oversee the
investigation of Nemtsov's killing. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin
would take the investigation into Nemtsov’s death under “personal control.” I think it is safe to conclude that Vlad will
make certain that whoever let this get out will be severely dealt with at FSB Headquarters
in Lubyanka Square then sent to a reeducation camp and then to a Siberian
gulag. So comrade, don’t forget to bring
a warm jacket and a shovel if, that is, you are allowed to live.
