Putin still in control after Nemtsov killing

Updated: 2015-03-18 09:11

By Li Lifan(China Daily)

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Putin still in control after Nemtsov killing

People walk past flowers at the site where Russian politician Boris Nemtsov was killed, with St. Basil's Cathedral seen in the background, at the Great Moskvoretsky Bridge in central Moscow March 9, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Kyrgyz counterpart on Monday, ending the speculation of the Western media that he had been forced to lie low following the assassination of Russia's opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, which is considered one of the most outrageous political assassinations in this country.

Although details remain sketchy, the West has used the incident to launch a fresh tirade against Putin. On the day Nemtsov was shot, US President Barack Obama condemned the "brutal murder" and praised Nemtsov for his "courageous dedication to the struggle against corruption in Russia".

Nemtsov's assassination seems to have given Ukraine a reason not to implement the Minsk Agreement, the deal agreed by Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to restore peace in Ukraine's restive eastern and southern regions. This will, of course, be in the interest of the US. In fact, pro-West opposition forces in Russia are already trying to reorganize their alliance and thus push the country toward political chaos.

Yet Russia has succeeded in avoiding such a chaos, because both the Kremlin and opposition parties have condemned Nemt-sov's assassination. Besides, many Russian leaders and political observers have appealed to people to maintain calm by defeating internal and external forces' designs to create disturbance in the country.

The Russian opposition can be roughly divided into two factions: registered parties and non-registered groups. The former, including the Communist Party of Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and A Just Russia, have some seats in the Duma, lower house of the Russian parliament, and cooperate rather than oppose Kremlin on many issues.

The diversified and non-registered opposition alliance, on the other hand, is powerless. Despite claiming to be a member of the non-registered opposition, Nemt-sov belonged to the registered opposition as a former deputy prime minister of Russia and the political and financial resources that came along with it.

The lack of an efficient political platform, a qualified leader and, most importantly, proper internal management, has made the opposition's attempt to take on Putin a rather futile attempt.

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