The U.S. and Global Security Review - Blog by Michael Novakhov

My working hypothesis is that Nemtsov was killed by some murderous mavericks – not government agents nor opposition fanatics. But the reason they felt obliged to go and gun down a frankly past-his-peak anti-government figure is highly likely to be precisely because of the increasingly toxic political climate that clearly is a product of Kremlin agency, in which people like Nemtsov are portrayed as Russophobic minions of the west, enemies of Russia’s people, culture, values and interests.  'Boris Nemtsov's murder marks a turning point for Putin and Russia'   by Mark Galeotti Nemtsov was tragically aware that he might be killed as a Western scapegoat. He recognised that his call for Russia to abandon nostalgia not just for the recent Soviet past but for imperial Russia, too, put him on a collision course with a growing majority in the country. Nationalist websites identified the opposition politician as a treacherous “Western agent”, while Nato expansion to Russia’s s