Potential 2016 Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina, while speaking on a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday, indicated that President Vladimir Putin is behind the murder Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
She linked Putin to Nemtsov’s murder during a CPAC panel titled, “Putin’s Russia: A New Cold War?”
Putin “is prepared to go to any lengths necessary to eliminate opposition,” said the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, later adding, “I’m sure he will look into it, I’m sure he will deny it, but let’s be clear when someone is gunned down virtually on the steps of the Kremlin and he is your only real opposition left standing, we should be realistic about why that happened.”
Early Saturday morning, a gunman reportedly killed Nemtsov, a renowned Putin critic, in the middle of Moscow.
“As this latest assassination demonstrates, he has, over a series of years, ruthlessly consolidated power…eliminated his enemies and achieved objective after objective after objective politically speaking,” proclaimed Fiorina.
Nemtsov was allegedly shot four times.
According to a Putin spokesman, the Russian president personally supports the ongoing investigation into Nemtsov’s death.
Fiorina noted that she has met Putin.
“He is a formidable man and he is a charming, fascinating, and intelligent…we cannot underestimate this man,” she pointed out.
“There is no voice of dissension and there is no free media, truly, in Russia today,” added the potential presidential hopeful.
Fiorina mentioned that the entire Russian economy is currently controlled by Putin loyalists.
“All of them are going to pull the lever of economic power on his behalf and those that are not have ended up in jail or worse,” she said.
Fiorina said the reason why Putin’s popularity in Russia is at an all time high is because “we now have a situation in Russia where all the media is controlled so there really is no opportunity for the Russian people to actually understand what’s going on.”
Russian state-run media has downplayed the Kremlin’s involvement in the murder of the Russian pro-Democracy leader and staunch Vladimir Putin critic.
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