In Russia, rhetoric from Putin ally stokes fear of new assassinations
A man lights a candle at the site where Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was killed in Moscow in 2015. Russian dissidents are voicing fears that more assassinations may be looming. (Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)
By Michael Birnbaum-January 19
MOSCOW — Nearly a year after the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin is again calling for violence against the Kremlin’s opponents.
The comments, made by the head of the Russian region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, over the past week and culminating Tuesday with the suggestion that Putin’s opponents should be sent to “a good psychiatric hospital,” echo the harsh anti-opposition rhetoric that flared in Russia early last year. At the time, Putin’s supporters took to the streets of Moscow to threaten violence against those seen as favoring peace with Ukraine. On Feb. 27, Nemtsov was assassinated in the shadow of the Kremlin, in one of the highest-profile political murders since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Russian authorities have prosecuted Chechens with links to Kadyrov for the killing. They have not officially traced it back to Kadyrov himself, and he has denied any responsibility. But Western diplomats, opposition activists and even some senior Russian officials say privately that they believe that the orders came from the very top in Chechnya.
That has some on Kadyrov’s new hit list — most of whom are allies of Nemtsov — taking the Chechen leader’s campaign seriously. The strongman controls a security force of heavily armed fighters who operate largely with impunity both in Chechnya and Moscow. Chechens have been tied to other murders of Kremlin critics, including opposition journalist Anna Politkovskaya, although Kadyrov has never been officially implicated in any of them.
