LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Vladimir Putin’s Russia an ever-growing threat

OPINION:

Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down near the Kremlin a day before his planned protest march against President Vladimir Putin’s government (“Obama condemns ’brutal murder’ of Putin critic Boris Nemtsov,” Web, Feb. 27). This assassination is a continuation of the crimes that have been committed since President Boris Yeltsin appointed Mr. Putin to the position of prime minister on Aug. 9, 1999.

Mr. Putin enlisted FSB/KGB assets to take control and orchestrated the 1999 bombings of Russian apartment buildings, killing 293 in order to blame Chechnya. He conduct the second Chechen war to punish and kill 50,000 innocent people so that he could become president and “savior” of Russia. He had KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko killed for revealing the apartment bombings and Russian atrocities in Chechnya. He conducted a show trial of opposition leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky and imprisoned him. Mr. Putin murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya and at least 35 other journalists. He invaded Georgia and annexed parts of it, gave military aid to Syria’s Bashar Assad, corrupted the Sochi Olympics, seized the Crimea and downed Malaysia Flight 17.

After the multiplication of outrages, Russia will continue to be provocative because Mr. Putin has created nationalistic popularity at home along with alliances with China and Syria. Russian-backed separatists will continue to advance in Ukraine this spring, attacking the port city of Mariupol. Russia is also now the world’s top cyber threat.

LT. COL. DOMINIK GEORGE NARGELE

U.S. Marine Corps (retired)

Arlington