Boris Nemtsov: Opposition mourns politician and its own prospects

Viktor Zaslavsky walked down Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, arm in arm with his mother on Sunday, in a sombre mood. But there was one comforting thought.

"At least now we know that there are still many of us," said Mr Zaslavsky, who had joined tens of thousands commemorating Boris Nemtsov, the opposition politician killed on that same bridge by a hale of bullets to the back late Friday night.

The 29-year-old Mr Zaslavsky is one of the many young Muscovites who took to the streets three years ago to protest president Vladimir Putin but then stayed away as authorities crushed the movement. They did so by prosecuting a smattering of activists, weeding out the majority of independent media voices and, over the past year, targeting as "traitors" those who dare to criticise Moscow's war in Ukraine.

The brutal murder of Mr Nemtsov - within sight of the Kremlin walls - has shocked residents of the Russian capital so much that many felt compelled to emerge from the political apathy which has spread over the country in recent years. "It is not a question of politics but of human decency that we have come," Mr Zaslavsky's mother said.

Vera Kichanova, a journalist and opposition activist, suggested that in the show of solidarity sparked by Mr Nemtsov's death the opposition had at least managed to reclaim the high ground of Russian patriotism - taking it back from nationalists in the Kremlin-supported "Anti-Maidan" movement that has carried the Russian flag to denounce a pro-western revolution in Ukraine.

"It seems that from today the Russian flag stopped being the flag of the Anti-Maidanists - now it is again the flag of those who are for peace and democracy," she tweeted.

But the prospects for the opposition remain bleak. In fact, Mr Nemtsov's dramatic death appears to have only deepened the chasm between the dwindling group of pro-European, liberal politicians and those loyal to the Kremlin.

Even though Russia's economy is heading into recession, the population is still rallying behind Mr Putin. Most people blame the west for Russia's troubles, and remain receptive to propaganda attacking the president's critics at home as "traitors" breaking the ranks.

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Russian opposition members interpreted his detention as a frightening signal of the Kremlin's intention to continue to target its critics as enemies.

Similar signals have been detected in the investigation of Mr Nemtsov's murder. The Investigative Committee, which is probing the killing, has made no mention of the possibility that Mr Nemtsov's death could be connected to his opposition against Mr Putin. Instead, the investigators said they were looking into the theory that he might be a "sacrificial victim" to cause a provocation - echoing earlier comments by Mr Putin.

The term "sacrificial victim" was coined by the president in 2012 ahead of his election for his current term, when he was still recovering from a mass protest movement. "They are looking among well-known people for a sacrificial victim," he said with reference to the opposition, adding that "we know that they've been fiddling with these kinds of tactics for more than 10 years".

Amid such threats, opposition politicians say they are preparing for a new wave of persecution. A key question is what will happen to Alexei Navalny, the lawyer and anti-corruption blogger who is by far the opposition's most popular figure? Mr Navalny was barred from Sunday's march because he was jailed for 15 days on charges of illegally campaigning for it.

Roman Rubanov, a close associate of Mr Navalny, says he fears the opposition leader could be hit with yet another set of criminal charges after his current short jail term ends this coming week.

Mr Navalny cemented his credentials as a potential future leader when the 2012 protest movement rallied around him. In the 2013 Moscow mayoral election, he managed to bag 27 per cent of the vote despite being denied the chance to campaign on state television.

But the Progress Party he co-founded is still barred from fielding electoral candidates. In addition, the authorities are targeting the foundation through which Mr Navalny has been pressing his anti-corruption campaigns.

Even if repression does not worsen, the opposition remains marginalised. While the turnout at Sunday's mourning march was impressive for Moscow standards, there is no sign that the shock over Mr Nemtsov's death has helped the opposition widen its circle of support.

Discussing the prospects for broadening the base just days before his death, Mr Nemtsov himself said there were many technocrats inside the government or formerly close to Mr Putin with whom the opposition could work. He named the central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina and former finance minister Alexei Kudrin, as possibilities. On Sunday, neither was present.

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