Russian voices suggest many possible motives for critic's Friday murder, except one

MOSCOW (AP)

Maybe it was Islamic extremists who killed Boris Nemtsov. Or someone offended by his love life. Or agents of a Western power that will stop at nothing to disfigure President Vladimir Putin's image and drive him from power.

Russian investigators, politicians and political commentators on state television on Saturday covered much ground in looking for the reason Nemtsov was gunned down in the heart of Moscow, but they sidestepped one possibility - that he was murdered for his relentless opposition to Putin.

Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister and leading Russian liberal political figure for the past two decades, was gunned down shortly before midnight Friday as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin with a female companion.

The killing came just hours after a radio interview in which he called on Moscow residents to join an opposition rally on Sunday to protest Putin's handling of the economic crisis and his "mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine."

After his death, organizers canceled the rally and instead called for a demonstration to mourn him on Sunday in central Moscow. The city gave quick approval, in contrast to its usual slow and grudging permission for opposition rallies.

The mourning march could serve to galvanize the beleaguered and marginalized opposition, or it could prove to be a brief catharsis after which emotions dissipate. Popular support for Putin has remained above 80 percent in recent months, despite the severe economic recession and soaring inflation.

Russia's leading investigative agency said it was looking into several possible motives for the killing.