Ukraine mourns slain Russian opposition leader Nemtsov
The brazen assassination was one of the highest-profile killings during Putin's 15 years in power.
KIEV (AFP) - Kiev on Saturday paid homage to slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down in Moscow hours after calling on people to protest against Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
President Petro Poroshenko, writing on Facebook, called Nemtsov a "bridge" between the two countries in troubled times.
"I remember his smile and his brave ideas. He was one of the few people you could call a friend," Poroshenko wrote.
"He was a bridge between Ukraine and Russia. The murderers shot has destroyed it. I think it is not by accident."
Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin echoed the sense of shock at the killing and heaped praise on the fierce Putin critic.
"I can t get it through my head. There is no bigger friend of Ukraine in Russia," Kiev s top diplomat wrote on Twitter.
"He was a person whose hand you always wanted to shake."
The Batkivshchyna party of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko condemned the "savage killing" of the Kremlin critic.
"The murder of one of the few democratic and sober-minded politicians in Russia proves that the country is on the verge of collapse," it said in a statement.
The brazen assassination just metres (yards) from the Kremlin late Friday was one of the highest-profile killings during Putin s 15 years in power.
