The former British prime minister, John Major, is to to represent the UK on Tuesday at the funeral of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition leader who was gunned down last week. Major will travel to Moscow as the UK’s representative at the request of the prime minister, David Cameron, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Nemtsov’s remains are expected to be buried at the city’s Troyekurovskoye cemetery – the location of the grave of the murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya – following a service at a Moscow human rights centre named after the soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.
Tens of thousands took to the streets of Moscow on Sunday to mourn Nemstov in what was the biggest demonstration in the city since the protests of 2011–12.
Nemtsov, who was shot in the back four times in a brazen drive-by shooting on a city centre bridge near the Kremlin last Friday, was the last recognisable opposition figure still at large in Russia, following the exile of some and the arrest of others.
A request by the prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny to be released early from prison so that he could attend Nemtsov’s funeral has been rejected. Poland’s Senate speaker said on Monday that Russia’s authorities have denied him entry into the country for the funeral.
Bogdan Borusewicz, Poland’s leading opposition activist under communism, was to lead a delegation of Polish politicians and lawmakers attending Nemtsov’s funeral.
A Latvian MEP, Sandra Kalniete, also told AFP she had been refused entry into Russia at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, but was not given a reasonable explanation for the ban.
A UK government spokeswoman said: “At the prime minister’s request, Sir John Major will travel to Moscow as the UK’s representative for the funeral of Boris Nemtsov, which is taking place tomorrow.”
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