DHAKA: Holding placards declaring ‘I am not afraid’, some 10,000 Russians marched in Moscow on Sunday in memory of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, whose murder has widened a split in society that some say could threaten Russia’s future.

Families, the old and young walked slowly, with many carrying portraits of Nemtsov, an opposition politician and former deputy prime minister who was shot dead while walking home from a restaurant in central Moscow on Friday night.

‘If we can stop the campaign of hate that’s being directed at the opposition, then we have a chance to change Russia. If not then we face the prospect of mass civil conflict,’ Gennady Gudkov, an opposition leader, told the media before the march.

‘The authorities are corrupt and don't allow any threats to them to emerge. Boris was uncomfortable for them.’

Reporters said at the scene that at least 10,000 people were attending the march.

Access to the underground rail network was almost impossible due to the crowd, but Moscow police, often accused by critics of downplaying turnout at opposition rallies, estimated the numbers at 7,000. 

Nemtsov’s murder has prompted deep soul searching in a country where for years after the Soviet Union collapsed many yearned for the stability later brought by President Vladimir Putin.

Some now fear his rule has become an autocracy.

Putin has vowed to pursue those who killed Nemtsov, calling the murder a ‘provocation’, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2228 HRS, MAR 01, 2015