Free Republic

Boris Nemtsov: The political demands [for our march] are key: a quick end to the war with Ukraine. You know that Putin began aggression a year ago against Ukraine? Why do I say a year ago? Because on Feb 27 last year you know that armed men seized the parliament building of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Then 47 deputies without a quorum under the gaze of automatic weapons, voted for the referendum.

MOSCOW — It was near closing time on Friday at the upscale Bosco restaurant that looks out onto the illuminated red-brick walls of Moscow’s Kremlin. Boris Nemtsov and his young, dark-haired girlfriend were finishing dinner. A political reformer who had fallen foul of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nemtsov had been preoccupied for weeks with details of an opposition march planned for Sunday.

Nemtsov founded a number of opposition movements after leaving the Russian parliament in 2003 and he had served as the co-chair of the opposition Republican Party of Russia - People's Freedom Party since 2012. He was a prominent and vocal critic of Mr Putin, denouncing him for Russia's part in the Ukraine crisis, its worsening economic situation, and the alleged corruption surrounding preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games in 2014.