Respected Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov’s murder follows the slaying over the past decade of several other high-profile pundits of President Vladimir Putin and his policies. Here is a juicy little look at some of the best-known instances.

1. ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA

Famous journalist Anna Politkovskaya, 48, was fatally shot in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building in October 2006. Her work in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper was dramatically critical of Kremlin policies in Chechnya and of human rights violations there.

Last year, a court convicted five men, most of them Chechens, of involvement in the murder. However, Russia’s Investigative Committee has said it is still trying to determine who ordered the killing.

2. ALEXANDER LITVINENKO

An early Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, 44, became sick after drinking tea spiked with radioactive polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006 and died three weeks later. Litvinenko had fallen out with the Russian government and became a strong pundit of the Kremlin, getting political asylum after coming to Britain in 2000.

Two weeks before he was poisoned, Litvinenko charged Putin for the murder of Politkovskaya. Before he died, he signed a statement accusing Putin for his poisoning.

British police have identified two Russian men, former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, as prime suspects. They deny participation, and Russia rejected to extradite them. An inquiry in Britain is now investigating the circumstances of Litvinenko’s death.

3. STANISLAV MARKELOV

Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer, was shot after departing a news conference less than half a mile from the Kremlin in January 2009. Markelov, 34, was appealing the early release of Yuri Budanov, a Russian military officer convicted of killing a young Chechen woman. A journalist walking with Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, also perished in the attack. A Russian nationalist extremist was sentenced to life in prison for the murders.

4. NATALYA ESTEMIROVA

Human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, 50, was kidnapped in Chechnya in July 2009 and found shot dead the same day. One of Chechnya’s best known rights activists, Estemirova headed the Memorial group’s Chechen branch and uncovered alleged abuses by the forces of Kremlin-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

Russian detectives stated in 2010 that two brothers who were active members of an Islamic militant group killed Estemirova, who had implicated them in kidnappings of Chechen civilians. Memorial said DNA proof showed that the two men — one of whom was killed in 2009 and the other awarded asylum in France — did not commit the offense.

5. BORIS NEMTSOV

Boris Nemtsov, 55, who served as a deputy prime minister in the 1990s and became a prominent opposition figure under Putin, was gunned down in Moscow on Friday night. The murder came a few hours after he denounced Putin’s “mad, aggressive” strategies and the day before he was to help lead a rally protesting Russia’s actions in the Ukraine crisis and the economic situation at home.

Russia’s top investigative body stated it is looking into several likely reasons including an effort to destabilize the state, Islamic extremism, the strife in Ukraine and his personal life.

The Rabbit Hole Goes Real Deep, Find Out How Deep… HERE

• 28-feb (11:30) Nemtsov Killing Follows Slaying of Other Kremlin Critics (ABC News)
• 28-feb (10:59) Russian Opposition Leaders See Kremlin Links To Nemtsov Slaying (Huffington Post World)
• 28-feb (08:29) Putin opponent shot dead near Kremlin (CBS News: World)
• 28-feb (06:00) Western Leaders Condemn Nemtsov Killing, Press Kremlin (ABC News)
• 28-feb (03:59) HERCULES ON THE RADIO!! Learn What Ain’t It Cool’s TV Critic Thinks Of The OSCARS!! (Aintitcool.com)
• 28-feb (03:29) Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead, police hunt killers (Reuters)
• 28-feb (02:58) Prominent Putin critic Boris Nemtsov shot dead near Kremlin (Boston Herald News)
• 27-feb (21:59) Putin Critic Nemtsov Shot Dead in Moscow (Wall Street Journal)
• 27-feb (21:57) Putin critic, Russian opposition leader killed in Moscow (Baltimore Sun News)
• 27-feb (20:27) Kremlin Critic Gunned Down in Moscow Ahead of Anti-Putin March (Time – World)
• 27-feb (20:24) Anti-Putin leader Boris Nemtsov fatally shot in Moscow (USA Today World)
• 27-feb (18:45) Venezuela’s Most Dangerous Mayor (The Daily Beast)
• 27-feb (17:59) Putin Critic Boris Nemtsov Gunned Down in Russia (Media Ite)
• 27-feb (17:59) Anti-Kremlin leader Boris Nemtsov fatally shot in Moscow (USA Today World)
• 27-feb (17:29) Leading opposition figure shot dead in Moscow within steps of the Kremlin(Mashable)
• 27-feb (08:59) Critic’s Corner: ‘Good Wife’ returns (USA Today Entertainment)
• 27-feb (08:57) Former Kremlin banker Pugachev loses appeal to keep trust income hidden (Reuters – World news)
• 26-feb (19:58) Critic’s Corner: ‘The Good Wife’ makes robust return (USA Today Entertainment)
• 26-feb (16:26) Challenge Religious-Based Violence With Education, Unity and True Faith(Huffington Post Religion)
• 25-feb (17:59) Elite: Dangerous Players Are Making Creepy Urban Legends (Kotaku.com)
• 25-feb (12:59) Kremlin saw plan to annex Crimea before Yanukovich fell: newspaper (Reuters – World news)

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• DK

  It also goes the other way in a double entendre, since Russia Today aired each killing and its investigation including each suspect, where the killings took place.

  You forget Russia is as least as Democratic today as the US, with a slightly more open press after the Oligarchs of the Yeltsin years fled their death rate went down.

  Also forgotten is that Alexander Litvinenko met his alleged poisoners over a period of several months in London, Polonium was found in multiple meeting locations and there are multiple suspects the worst being that of the British Government itself (http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/30/inquiry-opens-spy-poisoned-russia-301896.html?piano_t=1) and don’t forget this one (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/11/wilileaks-cables-litvinenko-murder). The really dodgy part is taking 8 years to investigate and have an inquest which is in private and instigated by a PM desperate to pressure Russia.

  In the old party tradition there tends to be a show trial of suspects, a suicide or natural seeming death not a murder in the drawing room with the lead pipe by corbel mustard. in the intel world you suspect the accuser – qui profuit.

  Feb 28, 2015, 2:27 pm 0 Reply
• Pink Slime

  Russia has a *ucking jackal leading their country! We have one in America too! What are they doing up there? You people must like it.

  Feb 28, 2015, 2:50 pm 0 Reply
• CatHunter

  All of these deaths have three things in common: critics of the Kremlin, ineffective opposition, and funding from western backers (NGO/CIA et al). When they fail to make any real progress on the agenda of their backers, they become more useful dead. To this list you should add Boris Berezovsky, Russian jew oligarch that ran from Russia to London to avoid fraud and murder prosecution and the likely murderer or conspirator to murder Livenenko. Nemtsov had almost no appeal an no real following in Russia, the political equivalent to Pussy Riot’s musical following. So, he became more useful as a martyr. This has USA ziostink all over it, like the shooters at the Maidan.

  Feb 28, 2015, 5:16 pm -1 Reply