III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 81 

Calling for accountability and justice for the assassination of Boris Nemtsov. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2019 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. COONS, Mr. WICKER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. JOHNSON, and Mr. GARDNER) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Calling for accountability and justice for the assassination 

of Boris Nemtsov. 

Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a Russian statesman, who over 

twenty-five years of public service served as Member of 

Parliament, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, 

and First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia; 

Whereas Boris Nemtsov throughout his life showed an unwavering commitment to the ideals of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law, and to upholding the rights and 

dignity of Russian citizens; 

Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a powerful voice in opposition to 

the authoritarianism and corruption of Vladimir Putin’s 

government, publicizing its abuses, leading street protests 

against election fraud and the war on Ukraine, and sucVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:11 Feb 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR81.IS SR81

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cessfully advocating for international sanctions on human 

rights violators; 

Whereas Boris Nemtsov was co-chairman of a leading opposition party, won election to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma 

in 2013, and was planning to run for the Russian Parliament in 2016 and challenge Vladimir Putin for the 

presidency in 2018; 

Whereas, on the evening of February 27, 2015, Boris 

Nemtsov was shot in the back and killed as he walked 

across Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge near the Kremlin in 

Moscow; 

Whereas, on March 7 and 8, 2015, Russian authorities arrested five individuals, all of them natives of the Chechen 

Republic, on suspicion of carrying out the assassination, 

while a sixth suspect allegedly blew himself up during the 

attempted arrest; 

Whereas the defendants were tried at the Moscow District 

Military Court, which on June 29, 2017, found them 

guilty of carrying out the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, 

and on July 13, 2017, sentenced them to different prison 

terms; 

Whereas, at the time of the assassination, the now-convicted 

gunman, Zaur Dadayev, was serving as a Lieutenant in 

the Internal Troops of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation and as Deputy Battalion Commander in 

the ‘‘Sever’’ (‘‘North’’) Regiment stationed in the 

Chechen Republic, under the command of the Internal 

Troops Commander, General Viktor Zolotov, and the 

Kremlin-backed head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan 

Kadyrov; 


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Whereas Ramzan Kadyrov has called Lieutenant Zaur 

Dadayev a ‘‘true patriot’’ and has publicly referred to 

Boris Nemtsov as an ‘‘enemy of Russia’’; 

Whereas by Decree No. 115 issued on March 8, 2015, President Vladimir Putin awarded Ramzan Kadyrov the Order 

of Honor; 

Whereas, according to reports published in RBC newspaper 

on January 20, 2016, General Alexander Bastrykin, 

chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian 

Federation, has on two occasions prevented investigators 

from indicting Major Ruslan Geremeyev, Battalion Commander in the ‘‘Sever’’ (‘‘North’’) Regiment of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation stationed in the Chechen Republic and a 

close associate of Ramzan Kadyrov, as an organizer in 

the assassination; 

Whereas, according to reports published in Novaya Gazeta 

newspaper on December 9, 2016, operatives of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in the 

Chechen Republic have failed to serve Major Ruslan 

Geremeyev with a summons for questioning as a witness, 

reporting to their superiors that on the sole occasion they 

attempted to do so, ‘‘nobody opened the door’’; 

Whereas, despite requests from the legal team representing 

Boris Nemtsov’s family, the Investigative Committee of 

the Russian Federation and the Moscow District Military 

Court have refused to question high-ranking persons of 

interest, including Ramzan Kadyrov and General Viktor 

Zolotov; 

Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has, to this day, not issued any indictments against 


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the organizers or masterminds of the assassination of 

Boris Nemtsov, with the exception of Major Ruslan 

Geremeyev’s driver, Ruslan Mukhudinov, who is named 

alongside ‘‘other unidentified persons’’; 

Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Moscow District Military Court have refused 

to classify the assassination of Boris Nemtsov under Article 277 of the Criminal Code as ‘‘encroachment on the 

life of a statesman or a public figure,’’ choosing instead 

Article 105 that deals with common domestic murders; 

Whereas, throughout the proceedings at the Moscow District 

Military Court, the judge repeatedly disallowed questions 

relating to political motives behind the assassination; 

Whereas the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation has refused to release video footage from the security cameras on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge from the 

night of the assassination, claiming in a letter to State 

Duma Member Dmitry Gudkov on November 6, 2015, 

that the bridge next to the Kremlin is ‘‘not a protected 

object’’; 

Whereas, on May 18, 2017, the Parliamentary Assembly of 

the Council of Europe appointed Lithuanian Member of 

Parliament Emanuelis Zingeris as its special rapporteur 

on the need to shed light on the background of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, with a mandate to review and report on the case and on the progress of the official Russian investigation; 

Whereas, on May 24, 2018, the Russian Foreign Ministry informed Emanuelis Zingeris that he is forbidden from entering the Russian Federation; 


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Whereas, at its twenty-seventh annual session held on July 

7–11, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 

adopted a resolution urging Russian authorities to ‘‘undertake a new, full and thorough investigation into the 

February 2015 assassination of Boris Nemtsov’’; 

Whereas, on July 8, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the 

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 

held a public event to discuss the need for OSCE oversight of the official Russian investigation into the assassination of Boris Nemtsov; 

Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation are 

full members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; 

Whereas the OSCE Moscow Document has established that 

‘‘issues relating to human rights, fundamental freedoms, 

democracy and the rule of law . . . are matters of direct 

and legitimate concern to all participating States and do 

not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the State 

concerned’’; 

Whereas, on February 27, 2018, Washington, DC designated 

the street in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation as ‘‘Boris Nemtsov Plaza’’ to honor Mr. Nemtsov; 

and 

Whereas, on February 22, 2019, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and 

Cooperation in Europe, George Tsereteli, appointed 

Swedish Member of Parliament and Vice President of the 

Assembly Margareta Cederfelt as the rapporteur on the 

investigation of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, with 

a mandate to review and report on the case and on the 


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progress of the official Russian investigation: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) commemorates the life of Russian opposi3 tion leader Boris Nemtsov and his work to advance 

4 democracy and human rights in Russia; 

5 (2) condemns Vladimir Putin and his regime 

6 for targeting political opponents and working to 

7 cover up the assassination of Boris Nemtsov; 

8 (3) urges the United States Government, in all 

9 its interactions with the Government of the Russian 

10 Federation, to raise the case of the assassination of 

11 Boris Nemtsov and underscore the necessity of 

12 bringing the organizers and masterminds to justice; 

13 (4) supports the efforts by the Organization for 

14 Security and Cooperation in Europe and its Par15 liamentary Assembly to initiate oversight of the offi16 cial Russian investigation into the assassination of 

17 Boris Nemtsov; 

18 (5) calls on the Government of the Russian 

19 Federation to allow an impartial international inves20 tigation of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov and 

21 to cooperate with the Parliamentary Assembly of the 

22 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Eu23 rope and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council 

24 of Europe in their ongoing inquiries over this case; 


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1 (6) calls on the Secretary of State and the Sec2 retary of the Treasury to use their authority under 

3 the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability 

4 Act (title IV of Public Law 112–208) and the Global 

5 Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (sub6 title F of title XII of Public Law 114–328) to des7 ignate individuals whom they determine to have been 

8 involved in the assassination of Boris Nemtsov as 

9 perpetrators, organizers, or masterminds, on the list 

10 of specially designated nationals and blocked persons 

11 maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control 

12 of the Department of the Treasury, freezing their 

13 assets and making them ineligible to receive United 

14 States visas; and 

15 (7) calls on the Secretary of State, in consulta16 tion with the Director of National Intelligence, to 

17 prepare and submit to Congress a report detailing 

18 the circumstances of the February 27, 2015, assas19 sination of Boris Nemtsov, including the list of indi20 viduals whom they determine to have been involved 

21 in the assassination as perpetrators, organizers, or 

22 masterminds, and identifying what measures, if any, 

23 have been taken by the Government of the Russian 

24 Federation to investigate this crime and bring its 


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1 perpetrators, organizers, and masterminds to justice, 

2 and evaluating the effectiveness of such measures. 

Æ 


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