From our Russian Service:
Andrei Balin, the co-chairman of the local branch of the Republican Party of Russia–People's Freedom Party in the central Russian city of Talyatti, was beaten and robbed shortly before the same party's leader, Boris Nemtsov, was gunned down in Moscow.
Balin was attacked as he was returning home on the evening of February 27.
The unknown assailants assaulted Balin near the entrance to his building and stole his laptop computer.
Balin regularly posted material on his Facebook page that was critical of the policies of the Russian government, in particular President Vladimir Putin.
Police said they believed the assailants' aim was to steal Balin's computer, which had information on Balin's contacts and activities.
There was no indication of whether authorities were treating the crimes as related.
Opposition Yabloko party leaders Grigory Yavlinsky and Sergei Mitrokhin speaking to reporters at the makeshift memorial on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge where Nemtsov was shot dead, via Reuters:
Yavlinsky: "[Boris Nemtsov] was a good, open, bright man who dedicated all his life to the task of creating a normal country in Russia. He wanted this very much."
Mitrokhin: "I would say that this is not only a blow to the opposition, it is a blow to the whole Russian society, it is a blow to Russia. If political views are punished this way, then this country simply has no future."
Pro-Kremlin television station NTV has removed from its listings an anti-opposition pseudo-documentary called Anatomy of a Protest 3, which was due to be aired on the evening of March 1 in the wake of the opposition rally. The first two versions of the show smeared a raft of opposition leaders.
Via TASS:
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has expressed condolences to the family and friends of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian politician who had been killed in Moscow overnight to Saturday, the press service of the Russian government said.
"I am shocked by the cruel, cynical murder of Boris Efimovich Nemtsov. This is a persona tragedy for his relatives and friends. This is a great loss for our society, whose freedoms and interests he always defended," the press service said.
"Boris Nemtsov became one of the most talented politicians in the period of democratic transformations in our country. Up to his very last day, he remained a bright personality, a principled man. He acted openly, consequently and never betrayed his ideals. That is how he will stay in our memory," Medvedev stressed.
Writing on his blog, Aleksei Navalny notes that Nemtsov -- as an organizer of an upcoming anti-Kremlin rally and opposition leader -- was almost certainly under security services surveillance at the time of his murder last night.
The opposition has posted the route that Sunday's memorial march will take. Demonstrators will go from central Moscow's Kitai-Gorod district down to the River Moskva, along the embankment, up toward St. Basil's Cathedral and Kremlin walls, and across the bridge where Nemtsov was killed. From the bridge on the right hand side lies Bolotnaya Square, hallowed ground for the Russian opposition and the center of its protest activity in 2011-12. The march will end at the other side of the bridge.
The Kremlin statement expressing condolences to Nemtsov's mother, pledging that "everything will be done to ensure that the organizers and executors of this vile and cynical murder are punished."
Nemtsov was quoted earlier this month as saying that he feared Putin would kill him: "I am afraid Putin will kill me. I think he's the one who unleashed the war in the Ukraine. I couldn't dislike him more."
In the same interview, Nemtsov quoted his mother as saying, "When will you stop scolding Putin? He will kill you!"