Over a dozen Western ambassadors including U.S. envoy Lynne Tracy paid homage to Boris Nemtsov on Tuesday, nine years after the Russian politician was murdered near the Kremlin.
Nemtsov was one of President Vladimir Putin's loudest critics until he was shot and killed on a Moscow bridge on Feb. 27, 2015.
"Nemtsov's legacy continues to inspire Russians and people around the world to fight corruption and defend freedom of speech and human rights," Tracy posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The ninth anniversary of his murder comes shortly after another of Putin's top opponents Alexei Navalny died in a Russian prison, prompting outrage at home and abroad.
The EU delegation praised Nemtsov as a politician "who valued human rights and freedom above all else and sharply condemned the annexation of Crimea."
Diplomats brought flowers to the traditional makeshift memorial at the spot where Nemtsov was felled with four bullets.
Around that time, a dozen Muscovites brought flowers to the spot under the watch of several police officers.
A paper was left next to one of the portraits next to the Memorial.
"On this place Boris Nemtsov was killed by shots in the back," it read.
In 2017, a court found a former security force officer from Chechnya guilty of Nemtsov's murder and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Four other men were found guilty of involvement in the killing.
But the slain opposition politician's family and supporters insist the authorities have failed to bring the masterminds to justice.
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