Nemtsov sacrificed a lot for politics, for a freer Russia — and I’m not just talking about his life, his mortal life. ~ Jay Nordlinger

Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov (9 October 1959 – 27 February 2015) was a Russian physicist, politician, and liberal dissident. Nemtsov's conflict with Putin's government, based on Nemtsov's criticism of an increasingly authoritarian, undemocratic regime, came to be centered on the widespread embezzlement and profiteering ahead of the Sochi Olympics, as well as on Russian political interference and military involvement in Ukraine. He was assassinated in 2015.

Quotes

• 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an established independent judiciary, I will be the first to go to Brussels and Strasbourg and lobby for the law to be repealed, because we will deal with our scoundrels ourselves, and we won’t need any Magnitsky Law.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)

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 at Wikipedia