Brian Whitmore, author of the Power Vertical blog, writes of a new "Hybrid Great Terror" unfolding in Russia:
Exactly one year after Putin launched a hybrid war in Ukraine with the appearance of the storied "little green men" in Crimea, the killing of Nemtsov -- by men shooting from a little white car -- appears to mark an escalation of what can be described as a hybrid campaign of terror against Russia’s beleaguered and largely ineffectual opposition.
Like the hybrid war against Ukraine, Putin’s war at home, his Hybrid Great Terror campaign against his domestic critics, uses multiple methods: a well-honed disinformation campaign, legal machinations, stage-managed public demonstrations, and indiscriminate violence.
Aleksandr Khinshteyn, a lawmaker from the pro-Putin United Russia party, writes on Twitter, "I proposed naming a street in Nizhny [Novgorod] after Nemtsov on air with @VRSoloviev. As its first governor, he did a lot for the region."
There are still many people at the Nemtsov murder site. "Here people may have decreased, but there are still many," writes Twitter user Beslan Uspanov.
A BBC report on Nemtsov from 1997 portrays him as a possible successor to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and captures how his political star was once on the rise:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko talked about Nemtsov's killing in televised comments during a visit to the city of Vinnytsia:
"Boris Nemtsov was killed. He was a great friend of Ukraine and a great patriot of Russia. He was a person who, like a bridge, connected Ukraine and Russia and who built those relations between Ukraine and Russia, which I would like to see."
"Boris [Nemtsov] declared that he would reveal persuasive evidence about the involvement of Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Someone was very afraid of this. Boris was not afraid. The hangmen and executioners were afraid. They killed him."
"On March 1, tomorrow, [Boris Nemtsov] was going to join the march, leading a demonstration of several thousand people to show that there is another Russia which loves Ukraine, which respects human rights, and for which freedom is not an empty word and where for the sake of freedom and democracy he was ready to give his life."
The pro-Kremlin LifeNews outlet, which has ties to Russia's security services, has published an interview with a purported eyewitness to the shooting. The interviewee, whom they call simply Viktor M, recounts how he witnessed a man flee the scene in a waiting car after the shooting. Viktor M says he ran to help Nemtsov, who was lying on the ground wounded but that he was wheezing and soon died.
LifeNews suggests there are "three key witnesses" to the killing.
Independent news outlet Meduza tweets:
"On Nemtsov
-20 hours have elapsed
-the killers haven’t been found
-the car of the killers hasn't been found
-six shells have been found
-they fired a Makarov [pistol]"