IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 156 
Calling for accountability and justice for the assassination of Boris Nemtsov. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 27, 2019 
Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. MALINOWSKI, and Ms. CHENEY) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Calling for accountability and justice for the assassination 
of Boris Nemtsov. 
Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a Russian statesman who, over 
25 years of public service, served as a Member of Par-
liament, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and 
First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia; 
Whereas throughout his life, Boris Nemtsov showed an un-
wavering commitment to the ideals of democracy, free-
dom, 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 suc-
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cessfully advocating for international sanctions on human 
rights violators; 
Whereas Boris Nemtsov was co-chairman of a leading opposi-
tion party, won election to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma 
in 2013, and was planning to run for the Russian Par-
liament 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 ar-
rested 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 Rus-
sian 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, Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin awarded Ramzan Kadyrov the Order 
of Honor; 
Whereas according to reports published in the RosBusiness-
Consulting (RBC) newspaper on January 20, 2016, Gen-
eral Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of the Investigative 
Committee of the Russian Federation, has on two occa-
sions prevented investigators from indicting Major 
Ruslan Geremeyev, Battalion Commander in the ‘‘Sever’’ 
(‘‘North’’) Regiment of the Internal Troops of the Min-
istry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation sta-
tioned 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 Fed-
eral 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 Federa-
tion 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 Federa-
tion and the Moscow District Military Court have refused 
to classify the assassination of Boris Nemtsov under Arti-
cle 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 Fed-
eration has refused to release video footage from the se-
curity 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 mur-
der of Boris Nemtsov, with a mandate to review and re-
port on the case and on the progress of the official Rus-
sian investigation; 
Whereas, on May 24, 2018, the Russian Foreign Ministry in-
formed Emanuelis Zingeris that he is forbidden from en-
tering the Russian Federation; 
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Whereas, at its 27th annual session held on July 7 through 
11, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organiza-
tion for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 
adopted a resolution urging Russian authorities to ‘‘un-
dertake 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 over-
sight of the official Russian investigation into the assas-
sination of Boris Nemtsov; 
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation are 
full members of the Organization for Security and Co-
operation 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 Fed-
eration as ‘‘Boris Nemtsov Plaza’’ to honor Mr. Nemtsov; 
and 
Whereas, on February 22, 2019, the President of the Par-
liamentary Assembly of the OSCE, George Tsereteli, ap-
pointed Swedish Member of Parliament and Vice Presi-
dent 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 
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the case and on the progress of the official Russian inves-
tigation: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns Vladimir Putin and his regime 
for targeting political opponents and covering up the 
assassination of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposi-
tion leader who worked to advance democracy and 
human rights in Russia; 
(2) urges the United States Government, in all 
its interactions with the Government of the Russian 
Federation, to raise the case of the assassination of 
Boris Nemtsov and underscore the necessity of 
bringing the organizers and masterminds to justice; 
(3) supports the efforts by the Organization for 
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its 
Parliamentary Assembly to initiate oversight of the 
official Russian investigation into the assassination 
of Boris Nemtsov; 
(4) calls on the Government of the Russian 
Federation to allow an impartial international inves-
tigation of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov and 
to cooperate with the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
OSCE and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Coun-
cil of Europe in their ongoing inquiries over this 
case; 
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