MOSCOW -- Thousands of mourners and dignitaries filed past the coffin of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov on Tuesday, many offering flowers as they paid their respects to one of the most prominent figures of Russia's opposition.
Nemtsov was shot to death late Friday while walking on a bridge near the Kremlin with a companion. No arrests have been made.
The shooting has deeply shaken Russia's small and marginalized opposition movement. Many opposition supporters suspect the killing was ordered by the Kremlin in retaliation for Nemtsov's ardent criticism of President Vladimir Putin.
"He was our ray of light. With his help, I think Russia would have risen up and become a strong country. It is the dream of all progressive people in Russia," 80-year-old Valentina Gorbatova said.
"I am here to show that aside from the 80 percent of Russians who don't watch anything but state television and don't think for themselves, there are ... us, who do think and see that the government system is unfair and that we need to change a lot in our country," said Marsel Shamsudinov, who had traveled 450 miles from the city of Kazan to pay his respects.
Alexei Navalny, Russia's leading opposition figure, was serving a short jail term for unauthorized leaflet distribution and was not allowed to attend. Some European officials from Poland and Latvia were not allowed to enter Russia for the ceremony.
Nemtsov, 55, had been a deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin. But in the Putin era, Nemtsov's party lost its seats in the parliament.
Nemtsov remained visible as one of Putin's most vehement critics. In a radio interview a few hours before his death, he denounced Putin for his "mad, aggressive" policies in the Ukraine crisis.
After the viewing, Nemtsov was buried at a cemetery on Moscow's western edge as relatives and about 100 others looked on.
Among those attending the viewing were U.S. Ambassador John Tefft and former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who has gone over to the opposition. Other attendees included Russian Deputy Prime Ministers Sergei Prikhodko and Arkady Dvorkovich; Yeltsin's widow, Naina; and Mikhail Prokhorov, who ran against Putin in the 2012 presidential race.
"They probably know that if they don't come, then at some point people will be coming for them," Irina Khakamada, who along with Nemtsov led a liberal party in the parliament, said of the Russian officials' presence.
Human-rights activist Lev Ponomarev, echoing the view of many opposition figures, said the strong nationalism and intolerance of dissent that have risen under Putin's leadership have coarsened society and encouraged violence.
"In this atmosphere of violence and hate, these killings will only continue," he said.
Russian officials have promised a thorough investigation of the killing, but skepticism remains strong.
The Ukrainian woman who was walking with Nemtsov when he was shot, Anna Duritskaya, has returned to her homeland after several days of questioning, said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee.
Russian media have made much of Duritskaya's presence, noting she was three decades younger than Nemtsov and reportedly an aspiring model.
Many commentators said that, like other key opposition leaders, Nemtsov constantly was being shadowed by police, so it's hard to imagine that his killing could go unnoticed by them. Some noted that Nemtsov died on the newly established holiday commemorating the Special Operations Forces. It honors troops who swept through Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, setting the stage for its annexation by Russia a year ago.
Nemtsov's killing was the biggest political assassination in Russia since 2006, when another Kremlin foe, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was shot to death in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building on Putin's birthday. Five Chechens were convicted in the case last year, but it has remained unclear who ordered the killing.
Some observers speculated that certain members of a hawkish, isolationist wing of the government could have had a hand in Nemtsov's death, possibly hoping to provoke anger abroad and further strain Russia's ties with the West.
Those relations already are at their lowest point since the Cold War because of the fighting in eastern Ukraine. The government in Kiev blames Russia for supporting and arming the separatists. Russia denies the charge, but NATO says it has satellite photos of Russian military equipment in eastern Ukraine.
A Section on 03/04/2015