Assassinated opposition leader Boris Nemtsov had savaged Putin on air before murder

BORIS NEMTSOV accused a “mad” and “aggressive” Vladimir Putin of lying over the bloody conflict in Ukraine, just hours before he was assassinated.

Protest in Moscow GETTY

More than 70,000 protestors, angry at Mr Nemtsov’s murder, took to the streets of Moscow yesterday

The opposition politician and ex-deputy prime minister also branded the Russian leader “bloodthirsty” and “sadistic” on radio as he asked people to join a protest rally in Moscow yesterday that he organised but would not live to attend.

Mr Nemtsov, 55, was killed in a drive-by shooting late on Friday as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin with his girlfriend, Anna Duritskaya, 23.

In his final interview, given to Ekho Moscow radio, he accused Mr Putin of “eating the brains of Russians” with propaganda and dubbed his rule “a disaster”.

“The key political demand is an immediate cessation of the war with Ukraine,” he said as he called for people to join the protest against Mr Putin’s “aggressive policy, deadly for our country and many citizens, of war against Ukraine”.

Mr Nemtsov, believed to be poised to release a dossier exposing the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine to support an uprising, told radio listeners he had “documentary evidence of the presence of Russian troops there”.

Then he turned his fire on corruption, accusing Mr Putin and his inner circle.

“All high-profile corruption cases in relation, among others, to people close to Putin... all those cases must be investigated and those accused must be tried.”

I’m afraid Putin will kill me

Boris Nemtsov

He added: “Of course, when power is concentrated in the hands of one man and this man rules forever, everything ends in a complete catastrophe.”

Putin and his cronies “have created a corrupt state” with an “inefficient economy”, he stated.

Russia – hit by sanctions and falling oil prices – was in “a dead-end both in domestic and foreign policy” and the only remedy was for Putin to quit, said Mr Nemtsov.

His final words in the interview were to urge Russians to protest.

Just last month he had declared: “I’m afraid Putin will kill me.”

More than 70,000 flooded into the streets after the killing.

It turned into a protest over his murder, with marchers holding up placards saying “I am not afraid”.

Yesterday, it emerged Miss Duritskaya, could hold the key to identifying the assassin who fired at point-blank range from a white Ford.

She was walking from a restaurant with Mr Nemtsov when the killer struck.

The model from Ukraine has given a description of the murderer, despite her “deep shock” which has resulted in a partial “memory loss”.

Last night she was being held under armed guard at a secret location. 

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