Putin ally issues video of opposition leader in sniper's cross-hairs

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most loyal allies has stirred fear among Kremlin critics by releasing a video showing opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov in the cross-hairs of a sniper’s rifle.

The video, released on social media by Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, follows weeks of increasingly hostile rhetoric towards the liberal opposition from the former rebel fighter, who has called Putin’s opponents “enemies of the people” who deserve to be tried for sabotage.

The video, which Kasyanov, a former prime minister, said he regarded as “incitement to murder”, was issued weeks before the first anniversary of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, another prominent liberal opposition leader.

Police have charged a group of Chechen men with that killing, one of whom Kadyrov praised for his patriotism after the murder. But Nemtsov’s allies say the mastermind has not been found and that a cover-up is underway.

They want Kadyrov questioned. Kadyrov, 39, has said the idea that he is a suspect in the Nemtsov killing is nonsense. Kasyanov, who once served as prime minister under Putin only to become one of his biggest critics in opposition, said he hoped the Russian president would speak out against Kadyrov. The Kremlin said it had not seen the video but would look into it.  “I assess Kadyrov’s move as incitement to murder a state or civil society leader,” Kasyanov, who is chairman of the opposition PARNAS party, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. “It’s a straightforward criminal offence.”