Boris Nemtsov

Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov ( rus, Бори́с Ефи́мович Немцо́в, p=bɐˈrʲis jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ nʲɪmˈtsof; 9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist and liberal politician. He was involved in the introduction of reforms into the Russian post-Soviet economy. In the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin, he was the first governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (1991–1997). Later he worked in the government of Russia as Minister of Fuel and Energy (1997), Vice Premier of Russia and Security Council member from 1997 to 1998. In 1998, he founded the Young Russia movement. In 1998, he co-founded the coalition group Right Cause and in 1999, he co-formed Union of Right Forces, an electoral bloc and subsequently a political party. Nemtsov was also a member of the Congress of People's Deputies (1990), Federation Council (1993–97) and State Duma (1999–2003).

From 2000 until his death, he was an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. He criticized Putin's government as an increasingly authoritarian, undemocratic regime, highlighting widespread embezzlement and profiteering ahead of the Sochi Olympics, and Russian political interference and military involvement in Ukraine. After 2008, Nemtsov published in-depth reports detailing the corruption under Putin, which he connected directly with the President. As part of the same political struggle, Nemtsov was an active organizer of and participant in Dissenters' Marches, Strategy-31 civil actions and rallies "For Fair Elections".

Nemtsov was assassinated on 27 February 2015, beside his Ukrainian partner Anna Durytska, on a bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow, with four shots fired from the back. At the time of his assassination, he was in Moscow helping to organize a rally against the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and the Russian financial crisis. At the same time, he was working on a report demonstrating that Russian troops were fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, which the Kremlin had been denying, and was unpopular externally but also in Russia. In the weeks before his death, he expressed fear that Putin would have him killed. In late June 2017, five Chechnya-born men were found guilty by a jury in a Moscow court for agreeing to kill Nemtsov in exchange for 15 million rubles (US$253,000); neither the identity nor whereabouts of the person who hired them is officially known.

Early life

Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov was born in Sochi in 1959 to Yefim Davidovich Nemtsov and Dina Yakovlevna Nemtsova (née Eidman). His mother, a physician, is Jewish.

Nemtsov was raised in Gorky, now Nizhny Novgorod. His parents divorced when he was five years old. In his autobiography, Nemtsov recounts that his Russian Orthodox paternal grandmother had him baptized as an infant, and that he became a practicing Orthodox Christian. He found out about his baptism many years later.

Studies and academic career

From 1976 to 1981, Nemtsov studied physics at N. I. Lobachevsky State University in the city of Gorky, receiving a degree in 1981.

Aged 25 in 1985, he defended his dissertation for a PhD in Physics and Mathematics from the State University of Gorky. Until 1990, he worked as a research fellow at the Radiophysical Research Institute, and produced more than 60 academic publications related to quantum physics, thermodynamics and acoustics.

He proposed a theoretical model for an acoustic laser and a novel design of antennas for space probes.

Political career, 1986–2004

In the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Nemtsov organized a protest movement in his hometown which effectively prevented construction of a nuclear-fired boiler plant in the region.

In 1989, Nemtsov unsuccessfully ran for the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies on a reform platform which for the time was quite radical, promoting ideas such as multiparty democracy and private enterprise.

In Russia's first free elections of 1990, he ran for the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Republic representing Gorky, later renamed Nizhny Novgorod. Nemtsov was elected, the only non-communist candidate. He defeated twelve others. Once in Parliament he joined the "Reform Coalition" and "Centre-Left" political groups.

In the Russian parliament, Nemtsov was on the legislative committee, working on agricultural reform and the liberalization of foreign trade. In this position he met Boris Yeltsin, who was impressed with his work. During the October 1991 attack on the government by Yeltsin opponents, Nemtsov vehemently supported the president and stood by him during the entire clash. After those events, Yeltsin rewarded Nemtsov's loyalty with the position of presidential representative in his home region of Nizhny Novgorod.

In November 1991, Yeltsin appointed him Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region. He was re-elected to that position by popular vote in December 1995. His tenure was marked by a wide-ranging, chaotic free market reform program nicknamed "Laboratory of Reform" for Nizhny Novgorod and resulted in significant economic growth for the region. Nemtsov's reforms won praise from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who visited Nizhny Novgorod in 1993.

From the very outset of Nemtsov's tenure as governor, according to Serge Schmemann, Nemtsov "embarked on a whirlwind campaign to transform the region, drawing enthusiastic support from a host of Western agencies." Although the province was closed to foreigners for years and "there wasn't even enough paper money for the privatization program", he was optimistic about Moscow's future and consequently "pushed ahead on his own, even issuing his own money—chits, to be eventually exchanged for rubles that came to be known as 'Nemtsovki.'" Nemtsov very openly looked to the West as a model for Russia's future. Nemtsov, Schmemann observed, adopted the westernized title "Governor" rather than the Russian "Head of Administration".

After Nemtsov's death, Leonid Bershidsky recalled meeting him in 1992 during his tenure as governor. "A brilliant young physicist", recounted Bershidsky, "he was trying to practice liberal economics in a gloomy Soviet-era industrial city that had long been off-limits to foreigners." Bershidsky described his eloquence and demeanor as that of "a Hollywood movie politician transplanted into the Russian hinterland."

In December 1993, Nemtsov was elected to the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament. During the election campaign he was backed by Russia's Choice and Yabloko, which were then the principal liberal parties in the country.

In 1996, Nemtsov brought Yeltsin a petition with one million signatures against the first war in Chechnya, which he had signed himself.

In March 1997, Nemtsov was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, with special responsibility for reform of the energy sector. He was tasked with restructuring the monopolies and reforming the housing and social sectors. He became popular with the public and appeared favoured to become President of Russia in 2000. Boris Yeltsin introduced him to Bill Clinton as his chosen successor. In the summer of 1997, opinion polls gave Nemtsov over 50% support as a potential presidential candidate. His political career, however, suffered a blow in August 1998 following the crash of the Russian stock-market and the ensuing economic crisis.

Nemtsov had worked in Moscow's "White House" for only a year and a half, although he stated he had some success. He ended the corrupt act of stashing budget funds in commercial banks. He also managed to introduce an anti-corruption law for all state purchases in the government. He also helped to end the illegal export of raw materials and made oil sales more transparent. "And, most importantly, while I was the minister responsible for fuel and energy, oil was at barely 10 US dollars per barrel, and still we managed to save Russia. Things were difficult, what with social unrest, strikes, the war in Chechnya, the 'default', and still – let me repeat – we did save Russia."

As part of Chubais' economic team, Nemtsov was forced to resign his position of Deputy Prime Minister. After the dismissal of Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin in 1998, Nemtsov was reappointed Deputy Prime Minister, but resigned shortly afterwards when Yeltsin dissolved the government. According to ''The Economist'', Nemtsov, unlike many other top government figures, "emerged from the troubled 1990s with his reputation intact."

As early as 1998, Nemtsov had a personal website on RuNet. Nemtsov.ru sought to provide information to its users that was not available elsewhere and also was one of the first attempts by a politician to establish two-way communication with an audience.

In August 1999, Nemtsov became one of the co-founders of the Union of Right Forces, a then new liberal-democratic coalition which received nearly 6 million votes, or 8.6% of the vote, in the parliamentary elections in December 1999. Nemtsov himself was elected to the State Duma, or lower house of Parliament, and became its Deputy Speaker in February 2000. In May 2000, Sergei Kiriyenko resigned and Nemtsov was elected leader of the party and its parliamentary group. Over 70% of delegates at the Union of Rightist Forces congress in May 2001 confirmed him as party leader. According to Nemtsov, the Union "always consisted of two factions, a Nemtsov faction and a Chubais faction", with the former "based on principles and ideology whereas the Chubais faction was pragmatic, existing by the rules of realpolitik."

In 2002, his name appeared on a list of several individuals the hostage-takers during the Moscow theater hostage crisis were willing to speak to directly. Nemtsov did not take part in the negotiations and later said that Putin had ordered him not to go.

By 2003, Nemtsov was in a difficult political position – while he vehemently believed President Vladimir Putin's policies were rolling back democracy and civic freedoms in Russia, he needed to collaborate with the powerful co-chairman of the Union of Rightist Forces, Anatoly Chubais, who favoured a conciliatory line towards the Kremlin. In the parliamentary elections of December 2003, the Union of Rightist Forces platform headed by both Nemtsov and Chubais received just 2.4 million votes, 4% of the total, and thus fell short of the 5% threshold necessary to enter Parliament and as a result lost its seats. In January 2004, Nemtsov resigned from the party leadership. He became Chairman of the Council of Directors of Neftianoi, an oil company, and also a political advisor to Ukrainian president Viktor Yuschenko.

Later career, 2004–2015

In January 2004, Nemtsov co-authored an article in ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' entitled "Appeal to the Putinist Majority", with his longtime adviser and party colleague Vladimir V. Kara-Murza. This article warned of the danger of an impending Putin dictatorship. Later the same month, he co-founded "Committee 2008", an umbrella group of the Russian opposition which also included Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Bukovsky and other prominent liberals.

In February 2004, Nemtsov was appointed as a director of the Neftyanoi Bank, and as Chairman of Neftyanoi Concern, an oil firm and the bank's parent company. In December 2005, however, prosecutors announced an investigation of the bank following allegations of money laundering and fraud. Nemtsov subsequently stepped down from both his positions, saying that he wanted to minimize political fallout for the bank from his continuing involvement in Russian politics. Nemtsov also alleged that his bank perhaps was targeted because of his friendship and support of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who had stated his intention to run for president in 2008.

During the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections, Nemtsov came out as a strong supporter of the eventual winner Viktor Yushchenko, while the Russian government backed his opponent, Viktor Yanukovych. Shortly after the Orange Revolution, as the elections and series of protests in Ukraine came to be called, Yushchenko appointed Nemtsov as an economic adviser."Ukraine President Appoints Former Liberal Russian Lawmaker", ''Dow Jones International News'', 14 February 2005. Nemtsov's main goal was to improve business ties between Ukraine and Russia, damaged after the Putin government strongly supported Yushchenko's opponent in the presidential election. Yushchenko's selection of Nemtsov was controversial owing to Nemtsov's vocal criticism of Putin."Ukraine Lawmakers Urge Yushchenko To Sack Russian Adviser", ''Dow Jones International News'', 3 June 2005.

The relationship between Nemtsov and the Ukrainian government became unstable in the middle of 2005 following accusations that Nemtsov had criticized Ukrainian cabinet decisions, and a group of legislators called for Yushchenko to fire Nemtsov. Despite the criticism, he remained as an economic adviser to Yushchenko until October 2006, when the office of the Ukrainian president announced that Nemtsov had been "relieved of his duties as a free lance presidential adviser".

Nemtsov was briefly a candidate for the presidency of Russia in the 2008 election. On 26 December 2007, Nemtsov withdrew his candidacy for the 2008 election, saying that he did not want to draw votes away from the other candidate of the "democratic opposition", Mikhail Kasyanov. Nemtsov said he was no longer running partly because of a belief that the government had predetermined the election's winner.

On 13 December 2008, Nemtsov and Garry Kasparov co-founded the political opposition movement ''Solidarnost'' (Solidarity). The organization hoped to unite the opposition forces in Russia. Nemtsov said in February 2011 that Solidarity had "done everything it could to resolve" conflicts within the opposition and that those "who are trying to create a rift among the opposition, whether consciously or unconsciously, are helping Putin stay in power."

At a ''Solidarnost'' meeting on 12 March 2009, Nemtsov announced that he would run for mayor of Sochi in the city's 26 April election. As a Sochi native, he had criticized plans to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics in the town. He believed it was this criticism which led Nashi members to attack him with ammonium chloride on 23 March 2009.

In a March 2010 interview, Nemtsov criticized the decision to hold a Winter Olympics in Sochi, saying that Putin had "found one of the only places in Russia where there is no snow in the winter. ... Sochi is subtropical. There is no tradition of skating or hockey there. In Sochi, we prefer football, and volleyball, and swimming. Other parts of Russia need ice palaces—we don't." The construction at the Olympics site was "disastrous" for the local economy, he added, saying that about 5,000 citizens had been removed from their homes to build Olympic facilities. He also added that "thanks to the corruption and incompetence of authorities, hese people havenot yet been adequately compensated for their property or been given equivalent housing elsewhere, as they were promised. Billions of dollars have simply disappeared."

On 27 April 2009, it was announced that the acting Sochi mayor and United Russia candidate Anatoly Pakhomov had won the election with 77% of the vote. Nemtsov, who came second with around 14% of the vote, contested the fairness of the election, alleging that he was denied media access and that government workers had been pressured to vote for Pakhomov.

Nemtsov was among the 34 original signatories of the online anti-Putin manifesto "Putin must go", published on 10 March 2010. Six months later, in September 2010, together with Vladimir Ryzhkov, Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Milov, Nemtsov formed the "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption" party, which, three months later was transformed into the People's Freedom Party. In May 2011, the party submitted an application for registration to the Ministry of Justice, but one month later it was denied.

In response to the question "Nemtsov, Milov and Ryzhkov and others, what do they really want?" in a live television broadcast on 16 December 2010, Putin stated that during the 1990s "they dragged a lot of billions along with Berezovsky and those who are now in prison... They have been pulled away from the manger, they had been spending heavily, and now they want to go back and fill their pockets". In January 2011, Nemtsov, Milov and Ryzhkov brought suit over Putin's statement before the Moscow City Court, but the following month the suit was dismissed. According to the judge, Tatiana Adamova, the names of Nemtsov, Milov and Ryzhkov were used merely as common names to refer to a certain class of politicians.

In a May 2013 report, Nemtsov stated that up to $30 billion had been stolen from funds allocated for the Sochi Olympics. He accused the Putin administration of cronyism and embezzlement of funds on a level so grand it posed a threat to Russian national security. He suggested "establishing a civic committee in charge of the investigation of the crimes committed around the Olympic project."

Arrests in 2007, 2010, and 2011

Nemtsov was arrested on 25 November 2007 during an unauthorized protest against President Putin near the State Hermitage Museum. Nemtsov and other opposition figures had complained of official harassment, and the police force had been used a number of times to break up what was then known as Dissenters' Marches. Nemtsov was released later that day.

On 31 December 2010, he was arrested with other opposition leaders during a rally against government restrictions on public protests. He was sentenced on 2 January 2011 to 15 days in jail. The arrests were condemned by US Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, and by Amnesty International, which described him as a prisoner of conscience. ''The Economist'' called his arrest "a new low" in the governance of Russia. "The mistreatment of him seems pointlessly malevolent. ... He poses no threat to the government. The rally was authorized and he was on his way home when the police stopped him. He was charged with disobeying the police and swearing, despite video footage that showed him asking the police to 'calm down'. A judge would not admit this as evidence. The court disregarded witness statements supporting him and would not let him appeal against his conviction."

In a February 2011 interview, Nemtsov recalled that the cell in which he was imprisoned "was a stone dungeon, about one and a half by three metres, veiled in semi-darkness so it was impossible to read. There was no bed, no pillows or mattresses, just the floor." He stated that his glasses, belt, and shoelaces were confiscated and he was given substandard living quarters. He attributed the decision to detain him to Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Chief of the Russian President's Administration and called it "a political decision." Nemtsov filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, which accepted it and agreed to handle the case through its new urgent procedure.

During the 6 December 2011 protests in Moscow, Nemtsov was arrested with at least one hundred other demonstrators.

Political views

After his dismissal from the government, Nemtsov became an important actor in the political discourse and eventually in the opposition to Putin's government. Nemtsov's political beliefs have caused some to characterize him as a "new liberal".

In February 2011, Nemtsov said: "Everyone is unhappy with Putin, save perhaps his closest friends." He noted that "for three consecutive years capital has been flowing out of the country, with some 40 billion dollars being taken out of the country in 2010 alone." As a result, "even within his party of corrupt thieves there are not so many people willing to follow him until the very end."

Nemtsov said:

utin hadused the Moscow theatre siege to impose a regime of total censorship on TV; he went on to destroy ''NTV'', and then ''TV6''. He used the nightmare of Beslan to remove democratic elections of regional governors. In short, he 'drowned' everyone apart from the terrorists."

Nemtsov also stated:

There is a myth spreading about how, in the 1990s, we democrats were pals with oligarchs while Putin was fighting them. It was exactly the other way around. We did not let Berezovsky get a foothold in he world's largest natural gas companyGazprom, we did not allow him to take over the Svyazinvest company ussia's largest telecom holding Yet Putin used to go to his birthday parties and bring flowers to his wife. It was Berezovsky who lobbied for Putin to become president and then financed his campaign.

Nemtsov told ''Newsweek'' in September 2011 that Putin's decision to run for president again "was predictable, but we were shocked by the hypocrisy and cynicism of the announcement: he declared he was coming back long before the elections. Putin and Medvedev did not even bother to share their decision to swap their chairs with the United Russia party before the congress. Russians had no choice but face his final decision; his usurpation of political power is sickly humiliating." Nemtsov said that all of his "friends in big business" planned "to take their capital out of Russia", while some "prefer to emigrate."

In a March 2012 op-ed for ''The Wall Street Journal'', Nemtsov and Garry Kasparov expressed support for "the repeal of the Jackson–Vanik amendment that impedes American trade relations with Russia". Nemtsov and Kasparov stated that at "opposition meetings following the fraudulent March 4 election", they and their associates "publicly resolved that Mr. Putin is not the legitimate leader of Russia." They explained that they wanted "the U.S. and other leading nations of the Free World ocease to provide democratic credentials to Mr. Putin", and asked that the U.S. replace Jackson–Vanik with the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act and thus improve relations between the United States and the people of Russia all while refusing aid to the Putin regime.

In December 2013, Nemtsov said on behalf of his party:

We support Ukraine's course toward European integration ..By supporting Ukraine, we also support ourselves.

Nemtsov condemned the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine:

My condolences to the families of the victims. The bastards, who did this, must be destroyed. The separatists the other day bragged they had the Buk missiles, with which they wanted to take down an AN-26. If those are them, they must get no mercy.

Nemtsov was among the few Russian statesmen to vocally oppose the annexation of Crimea by Russia. Nemtsov stated that he viewed Crimea as an integral part of Ukraine, that he considered its annexation by the Russian Federation to be illegal, and that the people of Crimea and not Russian legislators should decide which country they want to live in. In an op-ed published on 1 September 2014 in the ''Kyiv Post'', Nemtsov lamented the " fratricidal war" between Russia and Ukraine.

This is not our war, this is not your war, this is not the war of 20-year-old paratroopers sent out there. This is Vladimir Putin's war.

He accused Putin of "trying to dissect Ukraine and create in the east of the country a puppet state, Novorossiya, that is fully economically and politically controlled by the Kremlin." Meanwhile, wrote Nemtsov, "Russia itself is sinking into lies, violence, obscurantism and imperial hysteria." He stated that he sometimes thinks Putin is insane, but at other times he recognizes that Putin is driven by one goal: the "preservation of personal power and money at any cost." Ukraine had overthrown "a thieving president," and Putin needed to punish it "to make sure that no Russian would get these thoughts."

Ukraine chose the European way, which implies the rule of law, democracy and change of power. Ukraine's success on this way is a direct threat to Putin's power because he chose the opposite course – a lifetime in power, filled with arbitrariness and corruption.

He criticized Putin in 2014:

I cannot understand what Putin expects when he arms 20,000 Kadyrovites. Putin diligently finances Chechnya by sending there trains loaded with money. The republic receives a minimum of 60 billion rubles a year in grants. Only Allah knows how much money is being siphoned off through different programs, such as Northern Caucasus Resorts.''A Threat to National Security''
, putin-itogi.ru, February 2016; accessed 30 April 2018.

In April 2014, in an interview with journalists Boris Nemtsov called Putin a mental patient. This statement was used as the basis for initiation of criminal proceeding against Nemtsov but, eventually, the case was requalified to administrative offence.

Assassination

Nemtsov's fears

Less than three weeks before his murder, on 10 February, Nemtsov wrote on Russia's ''Sobesednik'' news website that his 87-year-old mother was afraid Putin would kill him. He added that his mother was also afraid for former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny. When asked if he himself was afraid for his life, Nemtsov answered: "Yes, not as strongly as my mother, but still..." In an extended version of the interview, Nemtsov reportedly added: "I am just joking. If I were afraid of Putin, I wouldn't be in this line of work."

Two weeks prior to his assassination, Nemtsov had met "with an old friend", Yevgenia Albats