# Boris Nemtsov

Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov (9 October 1959 – 27 February 2015) was a Russian physicist, political figure, and liberal dissident who served as the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast from 1991 to 1997 and Russia's deputy prime minister from 1997 to 1998. One of the faces of liberal economic and political reforms in 1990's Russia and a close ally of Boris Yeltsin, Nemtsov became one of Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics, exposing increasing authoritarianism and corruption. He was assassinated on a bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow in 2015.

## Quotes

* People in power remind me of people who find themselves in a room with windows and doors, where a huge number of microbes are flying. Sooner or later, the people in power deteriorate, simply because immunity is lost over time, and at some point you get infected with something. Elections and independent press are nothing more than opening those windows and airing the "corridors of power."
** Interview in Nizhny Novgorod's local government magazine (January 1995)
* I actually expect to live in Russia, so I care about what happens here.
** Interview in Kommersant (18 February 1997)
* We have few truly patriotic and smart candidates, and those few are busy figuring things out with each other. During the last elections various coalitions were possible, though none of them came to be - everybody was on their own. It is ridiculous.
** Interview in Kommersant (18 February 1997)
* Had I held a high position within the government, I'd gather big russian bussiness and give them a strict order: to buy up Sevastopol property under government guarantees. Then the talks surrounding the Black Sea fleet would take on a very different form: it's difficult to ignore investors. Interestingly enough I've received a large amount of offers from Sevastopol enterprises wishing to be bought by Russian capital. I am confident that that is a much more reliable path than shaking the air by statements like "we will never give up an inch of Russian land". Historical justice must be restored by capitalist methods.
** Interview in Kommersant (18 February 1997)
* First things first, for many years I've steadily supported the unification of the opposition, but right now I have to say that Jews are more likely to find an agreement with Arabs than for us with Yavlinsky — it's an assessment based on the results of our discussion. It's sad, but true.
** Interview in Gazeta.Ru (29 August 2007)
* The Magnitsky Act is the most pro-Russian law ever passed by a foreign legislature.
** As quoted in "The Kremlin revives a Soviet-style law against dissent" (18 May 2018), by Vladimir V. Kara-Murza, The Washington Post
* When we in Russia establish law and order, when the country has an established independent judiciary, I will be the first to go to Brussels and Strasbourg and lobby for the law to be repealed, because we will deal with our scoundrels ourselves, and we won’t need any Magnitsky Law.
** Interview with Elena Servettaz (April 2013)
* [I]n Europe, faced with the choice between human rights and gas, many politicians pick gas.
** Interview with Elena Servettaz (April 2013)
* The system always breaks down in Russia when irreconcilable contradictions develop within the ruling clan.
** Interview with Elena Servettaz (April 2013)
* This isn't your war... It’s Putin’s war for power and money.
** In 2014, as quoted in "‘It’s Putin’s war for power and money’ What the Nemtsov Report says about the Russia’s role in Ukraine’s war" (13 May 2015), by Andrey Kozenko, Meduza
* I know what needs to be done... We need to write a report "Putin. War", publish it in huge numbers and hand it out on the streets. We will tell how Putin unleashed this war. That's the only way to defeat propaganda.
** As quoted in "Nemtsov Report Details Human and Financial Costs of War in Ukraine" (12 May 2015), The Moscow Times
* [T]he truth is that Putin is war and crisis.
** Facebook post (31 January 2015)
* Vladimir Putin would have voted for Yanukovych. He's fucking crazy, Vladimir Putin, just so you understand.
** Владимир Путин голосовал бы за Януковича. Он ёбнутый, Владимир Путин, чтобы вы поняли.

## Quotes about Nemtsov

* In the tightly controlled and airproof “vertical of power” that is Vladimir Putin’s Russia, even a handful of dissenting voices in legislative institutions—especially when they are loud and persistent—can present a serious threat to the system. Such was the voice of the late Boris Nemtsov.
** Vladimir V. Kara-Murza, "Outspoken Russian Lawmaker Expelled for Truth" (25 September 2015), Spotlight on Russia, World Affairs Journal
* Nemtsov sacrificed a lot for politics, for a freer Russia — and I’m not just talking about his life, his mortal life.
** Jay Nordlinger, "A Russian Patriot and His Country, Part I" (10 April 2017), National Review

## External links

* Encyclopedic article on Boris Nemtsov on Wikipedia
* ↑ Борис Немцов: «Путин - ебнутый !»