Boris Nemtsov

Boris Nemtsov Борис Немцов
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
In office 28 April 1998 – 28 August 1998
President	Boris Yeltsin
Prime Minister	Sergey Kirienko Viktor Chernomyrdin (acting)
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
In office 17 March 1997 – 28 April 1998 Serving with Anatoly Chubais
President	Boris Yeltsin
Prime Minister	Viktor Chernomyrdin
Preceded by	Vladimir Potanin Alexey Bolshakov Viktor Ilyushin
Succeeded by	Yuri Maslyukov Vadim Gustov
Personal details
Born	9 October 1959 (1959-10-09) (age 52) Sochi, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Political party	Union of Right Forces (1999–2008) Solidarnost
Religion	Russian Orthodox

Boris Efimovich Nemtsov (Russian: Борис Ефимович Немцов; born 9 October 1959) is a Russian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 1997 to 1998. He was a co-founder of the Russian political party Union of Right Forces and is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.

Early life

Boris Nemtsov was born on 9 October 1959 in Sochi to Jewish parents, Efim Davidovich Nemtsov and Dina Yakovlevna Eidman.^[1] In his autobiography, Nemtsov recounts that his Russian Orthodox grandmother had him baptized as an infant,^[2] something Nemtsov, now a practicing Orthodox Christian, found out many years later.^[3] From 1976 to 1981 he studied physics at Gorky State University, and in 1985 received a Ph. D. in Physics and Mathematics, defending his dissertation at the age of 25. Until 1990 Boris Nemtsov worked as a senior scientist at the Gorky Radio-Physics Research Institute (Горьковский научно-иссследовательский радиофизический институт, НИРФИ). ^[4]

In 1986, in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, Nemtsov organized a protest movement in his hometown, which effectively prevented the construction of a new nuclear power plant in the region. ^[4]

Political career

In 1989, Nemtsov decided to run for the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies. He ran on a platform of reform, which for the time was quite radical; promoting ideas such as multi-party democracy and private enterprise.^[4] He was unsuccessful in this election, but returned to run for the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Republic representing Gorky (later renamed Nizhny Novgorod) in 1990. This time around Nemtsov defeated the twelve other candidates in the election, most of whom were members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union nomenklatura (Chinayeva 1996, 36). In Parliament he joined the "Reform Coalition" and "Centre-Left" political groups.^[4]

In the Russian parliament, Nemtsov was on the legislative committee,^[4] working on agricultural reform and the liberalization of foreign trade. It was in this position that Nemtsov came to meet Boris Yeltsin, who was impressed with the young man’s work (Chinayeva 1996, 36). During the 1991 attack on the government by those opposed to Yeltsin, Nemtsov was a vehement supporter of the president, and stood by him during the entire clash. After the events of October 1991, Nemtsov’s loyalty was rewarded with the position of presidential representative in his home region of Nizhinii Novgorod (Chinayeva 1996, 36).

In November 1991 Nemtsov was appointed Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region. He was re-elected in that position by popular vote in December 1995. His tenure was marked by the implementation of a wide-ranging, chaotic free market reform programme which earned the nickname "Laboratory of Reform" for Nihzhny Novgorod and resulted in significant economic growth for the region. Nemtsov's reforms won praise from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who visited Nizhny Novgorod in 1993 (Chinayeva 1996, 37).

In December 1993 Nemtsov was elected to the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament. During the election campaign he was backed by "Russia's Choice" and "Yabloko", which were then the principal liberal parties in the country.

In March 1997 Nemtsov was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, with special responsibility for reform of the energy sector. He was widely popular with the public and appeared to be the lead candidate to become President of Russia in 2000. In the summer of 1997, opinion polls gave Mr Nemtsov over 50% support as a potential presidential candidate. His political career, however, suffered a blow in August 1998 following the crash of the Russian stock-market and the ensuing economic crisis. As a part of Chubais' economic team, Nemtsov was forced to resign his position of Deputy Prime Minister (Yeltsin 2000, 99). After the dismissal of Prime Minister Chernomyrdin in 1998, Nemtsov was reappointed by Yeltsin to his post of Deputy Prime Minister, but again resigned shortly after when Yeltsin dissolved the government (Radio Free Europe.org).

In August 1999 Nemtsov became one of the co-founders of the Union of Right Forces, a new liberal-democratic coalition which received nearly 6 million votes, or 8.6%, in the parliamentary elections in December 1999. Nemtsov himself was elected to the State Duma, or lower house of Parliament, and consequently became its Deputy Speaker in February 2000. In May 2000, after the resignation of previous party leader Sergei Kiriyenko, Nemtsov was elected leader of the Union of Right Forces and its parliamentary group in the State Duma. His position as party leader was confirmed at the Union of Right Forces congress in May 2001, where he was backed by over 70% of delegates^{[citation needed]}. In 2002 he took part in the negotiations with the hostage-takers during the Moscow theater hostage crisis.

Between 2000 and 2003 Nemtsov was in a difficult political position. While he vehemently opposed what he believed to be President Vladimir Putin's policies of rolling back democracy and civic freedoms in Russia, he had to collaborate with the powerful co-chairman of the Union of Right Forces, Anatoly Chubais, who favoured a more conciliatory line towards the Kremlin. As a consequence, the Union of Right Forces's message appeared muddled and confused, thus alienating many liberal voters. In the parliamentary elections of December 2003 the Union of Right Forces, whose list was headed by both Nemtsov and Chubais, received just 2.4 million votes, or 4% of the total, thus falling short of the 5% threshold necessary to enter Parliament and losing all of its seats in the State Duma^{[citation needed]}.

Official results of the election were put in doubt by exit polls and the alternative vote-count conducted by independent election observers, which showed the Union of Right Forces at over 5% of the national vote and thus eligible for parliamentary seats^{[citation needed]}. Despite this, in January 2004 Boris Nemtsov formally resigned from the party leadership, accepting his responsibility for the election defeat.

Later career

In January 2004 Boris Nemtsov co-authored (with his longtime advisor and party colleague Vladimir V. Kara-Murza) an article entitled "Appeal to the Putinist Majority", warning of the dangers of the impending Putin dictatorship, which appeared in "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" newspaper. In that same month Mr Nemtsov co-founded the "Committee 2008", an umbrella group of the Russian opposition which also included Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Bukovsky and other prominent liberals^{[citation needed]}.

In February 2004, Nemtsov was appointed as a director of the Neftyanoi Bank, and Chairman of Neftyanoi Concern, the bank’s parent company (Nicholson, 9 December 2005). In December 2005, however, prosecutors announced that the bank would be subject to an investigation following allegations of money laundering and fraud. Nemtsov subsequently stepped down from both his positions in the company citing that he wanted to minimize the political fallout that may ensue because of his continuing involvement in Russian politics. Nemtsov also alleged that his bank might have been targeted because of his friendship and support of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov who had stated his intention to run for president in 2008 (Pronina, 20 December 2005).

During the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections, Nemtsov came out as a strong supporter of the eventual winner Viktor Yushchenko, while the Russian government backed his opponent. Shortly after the Orange Revolution, as the elections and series of protests in Ukraine came to be called, Yushchenko appointed Nemtsov as an economic advisor (Dow Jones International News, 14 February 2005). Nemtsov’s main goal would be to improve business ties between Ukraine and Russia, which had been damaged after the Putin government strongly supported Yushchenko's opponent in the presidential election. Nevertheless, Yushchenko's selection of Nemtsov was controversial in Russia and Ukraine because he was considered one of the few^{[citation needed]} remaining vocal critics of President Putin (Dow Jones International News, 3 June 2005). The relationship between Nemtsov and the Ukrainian government became unstable in mid- 2005, when a group of ultra nationalist legislators called for Yushchenko to fire his Russian advisor after accusations that Nemtsov had criticized Ukrainian cabinet decisions (Dow Jones International News, 3 June 2005). Nemtsov remained as an economic advisor to Yushchenko, despite the criticism, until October 2006, when the office of the Ukrainian president announced that Nemtsov had been “relieved of his duties as a free lance presidential adviser.” (RIAN- Events in Russia, 9 October 2006).

On 26 December 2007, Nemtsov withdrew his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election, saying that he did not want to draw votes away from the other candidate of the "democratic opposition", Mikhail Kasyanov.^[5]

Nemtsov co-founded with Gary Kasparov the political opposition movement Solidarnost (Solidarity) on 13 December 2008.^[6] The organisation apparently hopes to unite the various opposition forces in Russia. Nemtsov announced at a Solidarnost meeting on 12 March 2009, that he would stand for mayor of Sochi in the city's 26 April election.^[7] Nemtsov, a Sochi native, has criticised plans to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics in the town, a position he considers led to an alleged attack on him by Nashi members using ammonium chloride on 23 March 2009.^[8] On 27 April 2009 it was announced that the acting Sochi mayor and United Russia candidate Anatoliy Pakhomov had won the election with 77% of the vote.^[9] Boris Nemtsov, who came second with around 14% of the vote, contested the fairness of the election, alleging that he was denied media access and that government workers had been pressured to vote for Pakhomov.

Nemtsov is among the 34 first signatories of the online anti-Putin manifesto "Putin must go", published on 10 March 2010.

In September 2010 Boris Nemtsov together with Vladimir Ryzhkov, Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Milov formed the coalition “For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption”, which in December was transformed into the People's Freedom Party.^[10] In May 2011 the party submitted an application for registration to the Ministry of Justice, but one month later registration was denied. The party is examining various forms of boycott of the parliamentary elections of December 2011. It is also going to elect an alternative candidate for the presidential elections of March 2012.

On 16 December 2010 Vladimir Putin in a live television broadcast said that in the 90's Nemtsov, Milov and Ryzhkov "dragged a lot of billions along with Berezovsky and those who are now in prison... They have been pulled away from the manger, they had been spending heavily, and now they want to go back and fill their pockets".^[11] In January 2011 Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Milov and Vladimir Ryzhkov brought the case of Putin's statement before the Moscow City Court, but next month their suit was dismissed. According to the judge Tatiana Adamova, the names of Nemtsov, Milov and Ryzhkov were used by Putin merely as common names to refer to a certain class of politicians.^[12]

Arrests and imprisonment

On 25 November 2007, Nemtsov was arrested by police during an unauthorized protest against President Putin, he told the press.^[13] Nemtsov was released later that day.

On 31 December 2010, Nemtsov was arrested with other opposition leaders during a rally against government restrictions on public protests. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail on 2 January 2011.^[14] The arrests were condemned by US Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman,^[15] and by Amnesty International who described him as a prisoner of conscience.^[16] The Economist called his arrest "a new low" in the governance of Russia.^[17] Boris Nemtsov filled a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, who according to his lawyer, immediately accepted Nemtsov's complaint and agreed to treat the case among its new urgent procedure.^[18]

Family life

Boris Nemtsov is married^[19] and has four children.

Political views

From the time of his dismissal from the government, Nemtsov became an important actor in the political discourse and eventually in the opposition to the Russian government as led by Vladimir Putin. Nemtsov’s specific political beliefs have caused some to characterize him as a "new liberal" (Shlapentokh 1999, 1169). The "new liberals" can be differentiated from the so-called "old liberals" in Russia by their more hostile attitude towards the West. This group of political actors in Russia, of which Nemtsov was the main spokesperson, is characterized by "people’s capitalism", a term coined by Boris Nemtsov himself. People’s capitalism still accepts the market and private property as the pillars of a new Russian society, but also "rejects belief that market forces are the only effective regulator of all spheres of economic and social life" (1998, 203).

Nemtsov further expanded on his political ideas in a 2000 article published by the Harvard International Review. In this work, Nemtsov outlined his prediction of the future of Russian society and government, arguing that it will likely take the “moderately optimistic” path, characterized by conservatism and moderately reactionary shifts, where some political freedoms may be restricted, but not a whole scale reversion to Soviet style government, which he sees as the pessimistic path. Nemtsov warned however, that this path would likely lead to economic stagnation (2000, 17). Nemtsov also took issue with the power and autonomy enjoyed by many of the governors of the Republics, equating them to “feudal princes” and suggested a return to a structure that makes these leaders subject to federal control (2000, 21).

Reports

Distribution of the report Putin. Corruption

Since 2008 Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Milov have published several reports criticising Putin's regime and proposing alternative ways of development for the country:

• Putin. Results - February 2008
• Putin and Gazprom - September 2008
• Putin and the Crisis - February 2009
• Sochi and the Olympics - April 2009
• Luzhkov. Results - September 2009 (first edition)
• Putin. Results. 10 years - June 2010. Translated into English as Putin: What 10 Years of Putin Have Brought. This is a revised edition of the report Putin. Results of 2008. This report has been published in one million of copies.
• Putin. Corruption - March 2011. Written by co-chairmen of the People's Freedom Party Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Milov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and the Solidarity movement spokesman Olga Shorina. The priting of report is funded with donations. So far, funds have been collected for 440,000 copies.

The last two of these reports are currently distributed by activists of the Solidarity and the People's Freedom Party.

References

• Chinayeva, Elena. 1996. “Boris Nemtsov, A Rising Star of the Russian Provinces.” Transitions 2 (No. 4): 36-38.
• Dow Jones International News. 2005. “Ukraine President Appoints Former Liberal Russian Lawmaker.” 14 February 2005, (Accessed via Factiva, 26 October 2006) http://global.factiva.com/.
• Dow Jones International News. 2005. “Ukraine Lawmakers Urge Yushchenko To Sack Russian Adviser.” 3 June 2005, (Accessed via Factiva, 26 October 2006) http://global.factiva.com/.
• Nicholson, Alex. “Prosecutors: money laundering found at Russian bank headed by frmer government minister.” Associated Press Newswires, 9 December 2005, (Accessed via Factiva, 26 October 2006) http://global.factiva.com/.
• Nemtsov, Boris. 2000. “Reform for Russia: Forging a New Domestic Policy.” Harvard International Review 22 (No. 2): 16-21.
• Pronina, Lyuba. “Nemtsov resigns from bank post.” Moscow Times, 20 December 2005, (Accessed via ISI Emerging Markets 28 October 2006) http://site.securities.com/.
• Radio Free Europe. “The Russian Federation Votes: 2003-04, Boris Nemtsov, Chairman of the Federal Political Council of the Union of Right Forces (SPS).” 2003. http://www.rferl.org/specials/russianelection/bio/nemtsov.asp/. (Accessed 26 October 2006).
• RIAN – Events in Russia. 2006. “Ukraine President Dismisses Boris Nemtsov from Adviser Post.” 9 October 2006. (Accessed via ISI Emerging Markets 28 October 2006) http://site.securities.com/.
• Shlapentokh, Vladimir. 1999. “Social Inequality in Post Communist Russia: The Attitudes of the Political Elite and the Masses (1991-1998).” Europe-Asian Studies 151 (No. 7): 1167-1181.
• Yeltsin, Boris N. 2000. Midnight Diaries. Translated by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. New York: Public Affairs

1. ^ Krichevsky, Lev (2005-05-20). "Russian Jewish Elites and Anti-Semitism". AJC. http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=838459&ct=875489. 
2. ^ Nemtsov, Boris. The Provinicial Man, 1997
3. ^ Allensworth, Wayne. The Russian Question, p.289. Rowman & Littlefield, 1998, ISBN 0847690032.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Profile of Boris Nemtsov: Russia's newest first deputy premier". Jamestown Foundation Prism. 18 April 1997. http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?search=1&volume_id=4&issue_id=189&article_id=2244. 
5. ^ "Nemtsov no longer presidential candidate", Pravda.ru, 26 December 2007.
6. ^ http://www.rferl.org/content/Russian_Opposition_Founds_New_Movement/1359584.html
7. ^ http://www.rferl.org/content/Nemtsov_To_Run_For_Mayor_Of_Sochi/1509440.html
8. ^ "Kremlin critic in ammonia attack". BBC News. 2009-03-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7959819.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-26. 
9. ^ Unknown (2009-04-27). "Pro-Putin mayor elected in Sochi". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8019918.stm. Retrieved 2009-04-27. 
10. ^ http://en.rian.ru/russia/20101213/161757850.html
11. ^ Путин призвал не допустить во власть тех, кто "поураганил" в 90-е годы. РИА Новости. 16/12/2010
12. ^ Борис Немцов стал именем нарицательным. "Kommersant", 24.02.2011
13. ^ "Nemtsov shortly detained by police.". Twitter BreakingNewsOn. 25 November 2007. http://twitter.com/BreakingNewsOn/statuses/442165642. 
14. ^ Michael Schwirtz (2011-01-03). "Arrests in Russia Signal Divisions Over Dissent". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/world/europe/04russia.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. Retrieved 2011-01-07. 
15. ^ Ellen Barry (2011-01-06). "Russians React Badly to U.S. Criticism on Protests". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/world/europe/07russia.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. Retrieved 2011-01-07. 
16. ^ "19 held at Moscow protests of opposition jailing". Associated Press. 2011-01-05. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010502347.html. Retrieved 2011-01-07. 
17. ^ "Frozen out". The Economist. 2011-01-06. http://www.economist.com/node/17851285?story_id=17851285&fsrc=rss. Retrieved 2011-01-07. 
18. ^ Rainovotsi.
19. ^ WindowonEurasia: Window on Eurasia: Russia’s Islamic Leaders Back Putin, But Some Muslims Tear Down His Posters

External links

• Official site (in Russian)
• Nemtsov's page on the Solidarity website (in Russian)
• Nemtsov's blog i LiveJournal (in Russian)
• Reports on Putin (in Russian)
• Interview with Boris Nemtsov on BBC's HARDtalk (Air date 7 February 2011)

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Persondata
Name	Nemtsov, Boris Efimovich
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1959-10-09
Place of birth	Sochi, Russia
Date of death
Place of death