The Economist obituary of Boris Nemtsov is titled The Ruler Who Never Was:
Grassroots politics seemed the best course of action. In 2013 he got elected into a local parliament in Yaroslavl, not far from Nizhny Novgorod, where he handed out leaflets on the streets. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, however, he found himself in a different country. Suddenly he was dealing not just with corrupt government, but also with millions of people whipped into a state of patriotic frenzy. Russia, he fretted, was turning into a fascist state, complete with Nazi-style propaganda and assault brigades.
When he spoke out now against the war in Ukraine, he was almost a lone voice. A vast banner-portrait calling him a traitor hung outside a bookshop in Moscow. Cheerfully determined, he went on distributing his leaflets, most recently for a rally that became his memorial procession.
He was not born for hatred or heroics. He had dreams, but had never intended to become a fighter against state-sponsored fascism. He was simply a good man: too good, in the end, for the country and the times he lived in.
From the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine:
Vedomosti has more (in Russian) on the major demonstration and concert that are to be held outside the Kremlin, very near the scene of Nemtsov's killing, on March 18, marking the first anniversary of what Moscow dubs the "reunification" with Crimea, forcibly annexed from Ukraine.
Via the Reuters Live feed, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini speaking at a joint news conference with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics during the EU foreign ministers meeting in Riga:
"We have to obviously be very realistic about the developments in the Russian attitude starting from the illegal annexation of Crimea last year and we are approaching the anniversary in one week of a very bad development. But we also have the duty to exercise our role, which is also a role of looking all the time for a political channel in the interest first of all of our eastern partners, be it Ukraine, be it Moldova and Georgia, be it other partners."
"The European Union today is extremely realistic about the developments in Russia but will never be trapped or forced or pushed or pulled into a confrontative attitude, we still believe that around our continent, not only in our continent, but around our continent cooperation is far better than confrontation and we still argue for that."