Bahdankevich on Nemtsov killing: Putin follows Lukashenka

Stanislau Bahdankevich who knew Boris Nemtsov, called him a great friend of Belarus.

The Vice Chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus stated that in his interview to Radio Svaboda.

– Boris Nemtsov was a supporter of democratic development of Russia and Belarus. He closely cooperated with the United Civil Party. I repeatedly met with him both in Minsk and Moscow. It was a convinced democrat who believed that Russia's greatness was in democracy and creation of good living conditions for its people. He condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine and supported democratic national forces of Ukraine. Definitely, in past, he was a part of Boris Yeltsin team. He had a great authority, he was a great politician. Another thing that is that propaganda, which dupes Russians, affects the view of a substantial part of Russians on Nemtsov and the opposition. He is the opposition leader, one of the most prominent leaders. Therefore, murder of Nemtsov is a shock. It seems like Putin follows Lukashenka's way. Here we have people murdered; the same picture is in Russia now. The picture is wide open, all happened near the Kremlin with lots of cameras monitoring traffic. It is clear that the government is trying to intimidate people, terrify opposition politicians, Stanislau Bahdankevich said.

-Why was Lukashenka afraid of Nemtsov, once he was even denied to Belarus?

- Nemtsov presented a different model, another model of relations between Russia and Belarus. That is why he was a democrat and a strong person. Lukashenka certainly implied that the opposition should been cut off from democratic Russia, from the part of Russia, which thought that it would be better for the Russians to take a civilized way to make contacts with the European Union, the United States and NATO. From Russia, which believes the country must be developed by European model, but not by model with Asian oligarchs. In fact, Lukashenka is a number one oligarch in Belarus. We have state ownership, but he owns it alone. But Nemtsov was an ideological opponent of authoritarian power both in Russia and Belarus.

A well-known Russian politician was shot and killed Friday night in central Moscow. Boris Nemtsov was fired on from a passing car. He died on the spot.