Positive Quiddity: Boris Nemtsov

Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov (Russian: Бори́с Ефи́мович Немцо́в; 9 October 1959 – 27 February 2015) was a Russian physicist, statesman and liberal politician. Nemtsov was one of the most important figures in the introduction of capitalism into the Russian post-Soviet economy.  He had a successful political career in the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin, and since 2000 had been an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Nemtsov was assassinated on 27 February 2015 on a bridge near the Kremlin and Red Square in Moscow.  He was shot four times in the back.

                                                              Boris Nemtsov in 2014

Nemtsov's conflict with Vladimir Putin's government, based on Nemtsov's criticism of what he perceived as an increasingly authoritarian, undemocratic regime, was centered more recently on the widespread embezzlement and profiteering ahead of the Sochi Olympics, as well as on Russian political interference and military involvement in Ukraine.  Since 2008 Nemtsov had been regularly publishing in-depth reports detailing the corruption under Putin, which he connected directly with the person of the President (see "Political publications"). 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". In the weeks before his death, Nemtsov expressed fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have him killed.

At the time of the assassination, Nemtsov was in Moscow helping to organise a rally against Russian involvement in the war in Ukraine and the Russian financial crisis. At the same time, Nemtsov was working on a report demonstrating that Russian troops were fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, which the Kremlin has been denying. An open involvement would damage Putin's government not just externally, but also within Russia, where such policy has been shown by opinion polls to be highly unpopular.  At the time of his death Nemtsov was holding the following political positions: elected member of the regional parliament of Yaroslavl Oblast; since 2013, co-chair of the RPR-PARNAS, which is a member of the European Liberal-Democratic Alliance; he was one of the leaders of the Solidarnost opposition movement.

Previously Nemtsov held the following political positions: Nemtsov was the first governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (1991–97). 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 (1998) and in 1999, he co-formed Union of Right Forces, an electoral bloc and subsequently a political party. He was elected several times as a member of the Russian parliament.  Nemtsov was also a member of the Congress of People's Deputies (1990), Federation Council (1993–1997) and State Duma (1999–2003). He also served as Vice Speaker of the State Duma and the leader of parliamentary group Union of Right Forces. After a 2008 split in the Union of Right Forces, he co-founded Solidarnost.  In 2010 he co-formed the coalition "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption", which was refused registration as a party. Beginning in 2012 Nemtsov was co-chair of the Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS), a registered political party.

After Nemtsov's murder, Serge Schmemann of the New York Times paid tribute to him in an article headlined "The Brilliant Boris Nemtsov: A Reformer Who Never Backed Down." Schmemann wrote: "Tall, handsome, witty and irreverent, Mr. Nemtsov was one of the brilliant young men who burst onto the Russian stage at that exciting moment when Communist rule collapsed and a new era seemed imminent." Julia Ioffe of the New York Times described Nemtsov after his death as a "deeply intelligent, witty, kind and ubiquitous" man who "seemed to genuinely be everyone’s friend." She added that "he was a powerful, vigorous critic of Vladimir Putin, assailing him in every possible medium, constantly publishing reports on topics like the president’s lavish lifestyle and the corruption behind the Sochi Olympics.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Nemtsov