The jury has come to a verdict on the perpetrators of the murder of Boris Nemtsov.  We all know the story well enough by now.  The team of investigators located the murderers within a few days, and obtained evidence leading straight to the next level, very close to Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov.

Information was obtained as to the sum of money paid out for the murder, the source of the funds and the 15 million rubles that was spent, as well as a list of four “targets” which were semi-officially tipped off that the “order” had not been withdrawn and that there was more than one group of perpetrators involved.

Alexander Bortnikov, director of the FSB, reported the findings to Putin and even made an unprecedented public statement.  Putin began to ponder the situation, and eventually decided to replace the investigative group, bringing the investigation to a halt.

As a result we now have what we have: the man who ordered the killing was the driver.  We can only guess what led to such a conclusion.  Perhaps it was Zolotov’s participation in the discussion of “the Nemtsov problem”, maybe it was simply Putin’s fear that he will lose the loyalty of the bloodthirsty golem Kadyrov, or maybe it was some other motive, which I really would not like to believe at all.

As it stands, we now understand that a gangster network, carrying out its mob-like business and ready to intervene in the country’s political processes in the most gangster-like way, is operating in Moscow, and possibly in other Russian cities, on semi-official documents, with weapons and police documents and an apartment-headquarters in the “President Hotel”.

These gangsters spent months monitoring one of the leaders of the country’s opposition (a man who was under constant surveillance by the authorities) and, upon orders, liquidated him 100 meters from the Kremlin walls.  This gang is not just racketeering with Chechen business, it is accumulating money and weapons and will be used in the event that the regime is threatened, turning the problem of removing the regime into a bloody spiral of violence and political murder on the streets of Russian cities.

In this case it will not matter at all what Putin was thinking while encouraging the formation of a criminal army infrastructure in Moscow which behaves as if in an occupied city.  They mistakenly consider the Russian people a herd of cattle that can be safely intimidated by the knife.

The time has come to seriously investigate things about which earlier we had only speculated.  It is time to expose Kadyrov’s criminal network and its infrastructure in Russian cities, and decisively name its secret but obvious patrons.  I will personally make every effort to achieve this.

These criminals act under the guise of Chechen policemen, “protecting” Kadyrov and his cronies.  It is in everybody’s interest to remove these criminals today, using legal means, and not in the future.  If we do not do this, things will end very badly indeed.  The legal culture in our society is very thin, and underneath it society’s frustration burns like red hot coals.

Nobody will take responsibility.  There is a limit beyond which there is no forgiveness, no shelter in the mountains, nor in the Kremlin.