The tide of Russian revolt rolls out again

The outrage of ordinary Muscovites was sparked by Boris Nemtsov’s assassination on Friday, but many fear apathy will return in the face of a remorseless enemy, says Anna Nemtsova

‘FIRST they shot down a Boeing in Ukraine and we thought nothing could be worse and now this nightmare, also a huge crash for Russia,” Olga Riabova, a designer, insists, sitting round a table with her friends under a crystal chandelier in a glamourous Moscow restaurant. “Nobody should dare to gun down people by the Kremlin wall — this is unacceptable.”

The night Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was shot, the women and their friends rushed to the murder scene. “We were so furious, ready to begin a Maidan revolution,” Anastasia Kozhayeva, an illustrator, recalls. “Russia is very much ready for a change but Russians grow cold fast. They should be motivated while they are still angry. See, today we are not so ready for the revolution any longer,” she says, laughing bitterly.