The Kremlin's Nemtsov Murder Narrative Is Hanging By A Thread

Forbes ^ | 3/10/2015

[nickcarraway]

The message of Boris Nemtsov’s assassination now cannot be mistaken. The in-your-face murder in the shadow of the Kremlin obviously required high-level assistance. The trail of the murderers leading to Chechnya was shrugged off with a medal of honor for its puppet leader. The ultimate insult was the reported confession of the alleged nonreligious hit man that he killed Nemtsov on his own initiative because he insulted Islam. Facts do not matter. Kremlin propaganda will still blame the Nazi-Ukrainians manipulated by the CIA no matter what the record will show. The rigorous investigation promised by Vladimir Putin has become a farce. >I>The publicity, outrage and internet scrutiny over the brazen murder of opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov, on the Kremlin’s own Bolshoi Moskvaretskoi Bridge on February 27 could alter the time-worn script for dealing with political murders in Putin’s Russia. The investigation of Nemtsov’s murder could lead to unanticipated consequences for the Russian president.

Putin’s script

Putin had already teed up the investigation script before Nemtsov’s body was even cold: In remarks delivered within an hour of the murder, Putin labeled the “contract murder” a “provocation” against the Russian state. Within 24 hours, Putin’s notorious Investigative Committee (Russian: Sledvstvenny Komitet, or SK), announced to TASS that it was pursuing the five explanations for the murder, already advanced by the Kremlin; 1) a sacrificial provocation to destabilize the political situation, 2) the work of Islamic extremists or of (3) radical elements in Ukraine not answering to any authority, 4) Nemtsov’s business dealings, and 5) personal enmity against Nemtsov.

By glaring omission, the SK ruled out a political murder ordered by the Kremlin or persons associated with the Putin regime. Such a line of investigation would, of course, be a “dead end.