20th Anniversary Speakers

Boris Nemtsov

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia

Speaker at Forum 2000
 

Boris Efimovich Nemtsov 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. In Parliament he joined the "Reform Coalition" and "Centre-Left" political groups. 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. 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. 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. 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. In 2002 he took part in the negotiations with the hostage-takers during the Moscow theater hostage crisis. 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. oficial 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. Despite this, in January 2004 Boris Nemtsov formally resigned from the party leadership, accepting his responsibility for the election defeat. 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. 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 has 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. 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 remaining vocal critics of President Putin. 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. 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.” 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. Nemtsov co-founded with Gary Kasparov the political opposition movement Solidarnost (Solidarity) on 13 December 2008. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. The arrests were condemned by US Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, and by Amnesty International who described him as a prisoner of conscience. The Economist called his arrest "a new low" in the governance of Russia. 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.