Slain Putin critic laid to rest in Moscow as EU slams ‘arbitrary’ funeral limits

Thousands of mourners on Tuesday filed past the coffin of slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, bidding farewell to a charismatic activist whose brazen assassination shocked the country. Thousands of mourners, some clutching flowers and candles, formed a huge queue outside the Andrei Sakharov rights centre in central Moscow where Nemtsov’s body lay in state. As Bach’s St Matthew Passion played in the background, well-wishers filed past the coffin covered with flowers, many crossing themselves and some weeping.

We came because we feel ashamed of our country, of our people, that we let such a thing happen. Putin is to blame. But we are too.

One of the mourners, Dmitry Afanasyev

Nemtsov’s mother Dina Eidman, who turned 87 on Tuesday, his children, widow and former partners and friends stood by the casket. Former British prime minister John Major and US ambassador John Tefft were among the foreign dignitaries to arrive. The 55-year-old former deputy prime minister, longtime Putin critic and anti-corruption crusader was gunned down near the Kremlin late Friday. The European Union condemned what it called “arbitrary” bans imposed on several prominent European figures whom Russia had blocked from attending the funeral.

Nemstov Europe