Ten years after Nemtsov's killing:
Floral tributes from Norway and others trashed away by Moscow police
Norway's Ambassador Robert Kvile, along with many other diplomats, joined locals in Moscow to lay down flowers at the site where opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was murdered ten years ago.
"I will be honest. From the moment I learned that my father Boris Nemtsov had been murdered, I didn’t believe the case would be fully solved," writes Zhanna Nemtsova in her opinion piece in the Moscow Times on the day of the ten-year anniversary of the brutal murder.
She was right. A decade later, justice for Nemtsov is still out of reach. The assassin is in prison in the city of Petrozavodsk, but the person who gave the order is still free.
Boris Nemtsov was a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin. He opposed Russia's invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014 and the annexation of Crimea.
At the time he was assassinated, Nemtsov was preparing to release a study of the consequences of Moscow's illegal seizure of the Crimea and the war in Donbas.
His murder occurred just before midnight on February 27, 2015. Nemtsov was shot several times from behind as he was walking across the Bolshoy Moskovoretsky Bridge, right next to the Kremlin walls and the Red Square.
Today, Norway's Ambassador to Moscow, Robert Kvile, along with Denmark's Chargé d'Affaires laid down flowers on the bridge, as did diplomats from Estonia, Poland, the United States, Italy and several other countries.
Most were roses - red and pink ones. There were also a few bouquets of yellow and blue flowers, the colours of Ukraine.
However, did not remain in place for long. Shortly after the diplomats left, three men dressed like city workers started to remove the flowers. A few portraits of the murdered Putin critic were thrown into the same rubbish bags.
The city workers acted on the orders of the Moscow police, a live-stream video by RUS News showed.
At the end of the filming, the reporter, wearing a reflective vest clearly marked with "Press" was detained together with another person who was filming with his mobile phone and a jacket-attached camera.
Today, little is left of any political opposition inside Russia.
Nikolai Rybakov of Yabloko Party was among the few Muscovites who came out to remember and commemorate the opposition politician.
"For me, the most important thing was that he always spoke out against using military methods to resolve conflicts, be it Chechen or Ukrainian. And it seems to me that this is the main thing that he will be remembered for," Rybakov wrote on his Facebook profile after laying flowers.
Rybakov underlined that he does not trust the investigation into the murder.
"One day, a real, objective and comprehensive investigation will be conducted in our country. And a memorial plaque will appear at the site of the tragedy," he noted.
Boris Nemtsov's grave is at the Troyekurovo Cemetery in Moscow. By late afternoon on Thursday, the flowers brought there were still in place.
On the eve of the ten-year anniversary, Norway, the other Nordic-Baltic countries together with Canada and some other European nations issued a joint statement saying Boris Nemtsov will be remembered as a "prominent Russian politician, anti-corruption activist and opposition leader."
The statement added: "We remember Nemtsov’s vision for a democratic Russia and honour his courage for standing up against Vladimir Putin’s regime, which inspired many."
The 14 countries behind the text call on Russian authorities today to uphold their international obligations and "release immediately and unconditionally all political prisoners.”
