article_snippet: Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was one of President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critics, and many suspect the Kremlin of either direct or indirect involvement.
article_snippet: Speculation has pointed blame at everyone from Putin, to a Putin associate, to someone just irked by Nemtsov's business activities.
article_snippet: I doubt it was a direct order from Putin, but it was this toxic atmosphere of hatred," Russian pro-democracy activist Garry Kasparov said.
article_snippet: Nemtsov's friend and political colleague Ilya Yashin blamed Putin more directly:
article_snippet: "It's clearly a political murder," Yashin said.
article_snippet: Putin offered a different theory: that the killing was a contract hit, but one meant to fire up political strife, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
article_snippet: One man near the site of Nemtsov's memorial said One man near the site of Nemtsov's memorial thinks the killer was a Putin opponent.
article_snippet: Kasparov, suggested the 2006 killing of Russian journalist and fierce Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya was linked to the Kremlin's own insecurity.
article_snippet: If you are popular your critics don't have to be shot down in front of the Kremlin," Kasparov tweeted.