He had no fear and was hard to miss in any crowd.
As days go by, the pain and shock from the news about Boris Nemtsov murder are turning into sad reflections on Russia’s predicament, and my bottom line goes as following:
Nemtsov was a voice in the wilderness of Russian propaganda and self-deception. And his murder has cut away multiple layers of lies in Putin’s “war is peace” story. Tens of thousands of people who marched last Sunday across the bridge, which the man who refused to live a lie had walked to meet four bullets, may never learn the truth about the hand that pulled the trigger. They know, however, where the responsibility rests for whipping up the hatred currently devastating eastern Ukraine and for turning murder into a “natural” continuation of the condemnation of Russia’s “traitors.” Putin’s regime has mutated into a war clique that cannot find any other foundation besides this irrational and self-destructive hatred; and it cannot stop with a “victory” in Debaltseve or with the murder of one individual who stood tall against their war. Yet, Russia is not inherently a country that hates, and there is hope that Friday night was the darkest hour before the dawn of consciousness.
For the beginning of the article, go to Eurasia Daily Monitor, March 2.