The Nemtsov murder: What we can expect from MSM

Nemtsov's Murder May Be Used to Fuel Western Hostility Against Russia
Murder of Russian politician Nemtsov may be used for attempts to increase Western hostility against Russia and even to motivate further serious sanctions, experts claim.

Sputnik News,

28 February, 2015

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova – Friday's murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in the center of Moscow could be used by the West as reason to fuel tensions and increase pressure on Russia, experts told Sputnik on Saturday.

“This provocation will be used for attempts to increase Western hostility against Russia and even to motivate further serious sanctions. I for sure have the feeling that the murder of Nemtsov is a direct consequence of the Minsk ceasefire agreement and its apparent success,” political analyst Jon Hellevig told Sputnik.

Hellevig added that a provocative killing was obviously needed “to fuel the flames”, suggesting that the killing could be a false flag operation of some Western special task forces.

“Of course, I cannot know for sure at this point, but the murder clearly bears all the hallmarks of such a staged murder complete with a careful choice of the scene of the crime on a bridge with the Kremlin, the Red Square and St. Basil’s cathedral – the symbols of Russia – in the background,” Hellevig added.

German MP Urges to Refrain From Sweeping Conclusions on Nemtsov’s Murder

The expert also said he expected that the international reaction to the murder would far exceed “the two earlier similar Western propaganda campaigns”, in what he meant murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the death of former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko.

“One can't help but think that Nemtsov has been knocked off by those looking to cause instability in Russia and overthrow [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. Nemtsov while being opposition was not in anyway popular with the Russian public, nor was he a threat to Putin,” the analyst concluded.

Mitch Feierstein, hedge-fund manager and chief executive of the Glacier Environmental Fund Limited, agreed that Nemtsov’s murder could be a pretext to accuse the Russian president of some links to the killing.

“This cold-blooded murder opens the door for conspiracy theorists and media propagandists to summarily convict Putin, the West’s “boogeyman,” without any facts, evidence or a trial,” Feierstein told Sputnik.

Boris Nemtsov’s Killers Tried to Destabilize Russia – Gorbachev

Feierstein further said it was unlikely that the world waited for the results of an independent and thorough investigation before making “wildly speculative” conclusions. Instead, the expert argued that an increase in international and domestic tensions was likely to take place.

Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician who served as Russian deputy prime minister and energy minister under the country's former President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, was shot at several times on Friday night from a bypassing car.

After the deadly shooting, a number of Western leaders, including US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their condolences over the tragedy and urged prompt and impartial investigation into the case.

On Saturday, Russian investigators said that murder may have possible links to current events in Ukraine, Nemtsov's business activity and his stance on the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris.

And what we are likely to get from the western media. The general line was that Nemtsov had evidence of Russian military involvement in Donbas, and was about to spill the beans before being murdered by - you guessed it! - Vladimir Putin

This quote from former chess champion Garry Kasparov captures the significance of a Russian opposition leader's murder

Business Insider,

28 February, 2015

Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow Friday, and many of his supporters including the former chess champion Garry Kasparov assume Vladimir Putin is to blame.

Kasparov — one of the world’s greatest chess players and an ally of Nemtsov’s who helped him organise protests against Putin — says Nemtsov’s death shows Russia’s leader is lying about his supposedly high approval ratings.

“If you have 86% support, why do you kill someone like Boris?” Kasparov said, according to the Associated Press. “He maybe can reach two million people online at best. A demonstration brings out a hundred thousand people at most. So if you are so confident, why do that?”

Nemtsov served as a deputy prime minister and a regional governor in Russia in the 1990s, when he helped put free-market reforms in place. Ukraine’s president believes Nemtsov was murdered because he had evidence that Russia armed forces in Ukraine.

And Kasparov believes his ally’s death is a sign that Russia viewed him is a threat and believes public support is flagging. The former chess champion’s quote referenced a poll this month showing Putin’s approval rating at a staggering 86%, according to CNN. Kasparov is not the only one who thinks Putin is fabricating his high approval ratings.

“That figure is made up,” Ben Judah, author of “Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin,” told CNN.

And, naturally, the Guardian is right at the head of the pack in pushing the general line

Boris Nemtsov allies fear killers of Russian politician will escape justice

History of opposition to Vladimir Putin seen as most likely reason for death of former deputy prime minister

Poroshenko Claims Nemtsov Was to Reveal Links Between Russia and Conflict in East Ukraine

Moscow Times,

28 February, 2015

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Saturday Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was murdered because he planned to disclose evidence of Russia's involvement in Ukraine's separatist conflict.

Poroshenko paid tribute to Nemtsov, who was shot dead late on Friday, and said the fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin had told him a couple of weeks ago that he had proof of Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis and would reveal it.

"He said he would reveal persuasive evidence of the involvement of Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Someone was very afraid of this ... They killed him," Poroshenko said in televised comments during a visit to the city of Vinnytsia.

More than 5,600 people have been killed since pro-Russian separatists rebelled in east Ukraine last April, after the ousting of a Moscow-backed president in Kiev and Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula.

Kiev and its Western allies say the rebels are funded and armed by Moscow, and backed by Russian military units. Moscow denies aiding sympathizers in Ukraine, and says heavily armed Russian-speaking troops operating without insignia there are not its men.

A sampling of western MSM russophobic hyperbole:
 After Boris Nemtsov’s Assassination, ‘There Are No Longer Any Limits’
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/28/magazine/after-boris-nemtsovs-assassination-there-are-no-longer-any-limits.html
 Nemtsov killing: A chilling historical parallel?
In Leningrad on December 1, 1934, a lone gunman killed Sergey Kirov, a powerful Bolshevik who stood as an alternative to Josef Stalin.
Stalin’s involvement in the murder was denied, and never proved. It goes without saying that the Kremlin also was quick to deny Putin’s involvement in Nemtsov’s death.http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/28/opinion/dawisha-nemtsov-killing/

‘We are all Nemtsov': Hundreds gather to protest death of Russian opposition leader as Ukraine Prime Minister blames Putin for his death.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2972813/Russian-opposition-politician-Boris-Nemtsov-shot-dead-Moscow-street.html
 

And not to be outdone in Canada, Harper’s Globe and Mail:Fear envelops Russia after killing of Putin critic 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/russian-opposition-mourns-murdered-leader-nemtsov/article23237379/