On 27 February 2015, Boris Nemtsov, a Russian politician opposed to the government of Vladimir Putin, was assassinated as he crossed the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in central Moscow at 23:31 local time.

On 8 March 2015, Russian authorities charged Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev, both originating from the Northern Caucasus, with involvement in the crime.

Nemtsov was shot and killed crossing the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge[1] near the Kremlin, walking home after a meal out, in the company of Anna Duritskaya (Russian: Анна Дурицкая), a 23-year-old Ukrainian model who had been his girlfriend for two and a half years.

[9] TV Tsentr's video of the bridge at the time of the murder shows that it occurred as a municipal utility vehicle was passing by Nemtsov and a person is seen escaping from the scene in a white or grey automobile.

[12] The killing happened the day before Nemtsov was due to lead the opposition march Vesna (Russian: весна, lit.

Drymanov had also supervised the investigation against Nadezhda Savchenko, the second trial against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, as well as the charges of genocide during the Russo-Georgian War against Georgian military.

[13] During the night following the assassination, Nemtsov's apartment on Malaya Ordynka street was searched and all documents and materials related to his business and political activities were confiscated.

[17][18] Opposition media raised concerns that this was done to retrieve a draft report on Russian involvement in the war in Donbass, announced by Nemtsov shortly before his death.

Because of reported threats to her life, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin provided Duritskaya with state protection.

[25] On 10 March, Moskovskij Komsomolets published alleged CCTV photos of the suspects' vehicle, suggesting that they were following Nemtsov since September 2014, long before the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

[26] On 7 March 2015, the head of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov announced the arrest of two suspects, Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev (ru), both originating from the Northern Caucasus.

[27] Russian media reported Zaur Dadaev had served in the Sever battalion of the Kadyrovtsy, while Anzor Gubashev had worked as a security guard for a Moscow hypermarket.

[29][32] Dadaev apparently stated in his confession that his immediate manager during preparation for the murder was someone named Ruslik, who provided him with 5 million rubles, a ZAZ Chance car, and a gun.

[40] Commenting on the events, the President of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that he knew Dadaev as one of the bravest warriors who had fought in the Russian-Chechen Kadyrovtsy regiment since its creation.

He also stated that Dadaev was deeply religious and greatly offended by Charlie Hebdo's publishing of the Muhammad cartoons and Nemtsov's support for the French cartoonists.

[41][42] Ilya Yashin called the theory that the murder was motivated by offense against Islam and the official line of inquiry by the Kremlin "more than absurd".

"[46] In late June 2017, five Chechen men were found guilty by a jury in a court at Moscow for agreeing to kill Nemtsov in exchange for 15 million rubles (US$253,000).

[49] At the end of October 2017, journalist David Satter published an article in the National Review about an unofficial public investigation of the assassination.

PACE criticized the official version of the murder as "based on a severely flawed investigation and trial" and "inconsistent with the available evidence on numerous fundamental points".

[52] Leonid Bershidsky of the Bloomberg View stated: "In recent months, Putin's propaganda machine has been vigorously inciting Russians against the 'fifth column' – those who protested against the annexation of Crimea and the Kremlin-instigated war in eastern Ukraine.

[55][56] Brian Whitmore, writing for Radio Free Europe, stated that the murder indicated the development of a "hybrid Great Terror campaign" against Putin's opposition.

[61] Latvian MEP Sandra Kalniete and Speaker of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz were not allowed to attend the funeral due to travel bans imposed by Russia.

[64] On the morning of 28 February, the opposition party RPR-PARNAS announced a gathering on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow, where Nemtsov was shot.

[72] A silent one-person rotating commemoration was held in Murmansk by Irina Paykacheva, she was fined for her participation in the "unsanctioned event".

[73] On 3 March, the Russian artist Lena Hades began an art marathon in memory of Nemtsov, producing portraits of him daily.

[83] On 9 January 2018, the Council unanimously approved the "Boris Nemtsov Plaza Designation Act of 2017" which authorized the renaming, effective 5 May 2018.