NEMTSOV, Boris Efimovich

Opposition politician 01/31/2011

Boris Nemtsov (Борис Ефимович Немцов) was born on October 9, 1959 in Sochi. A former deputy prime minister of Russia, Nemtsov is one of the co-founders of the Russian political party Union of Right Forces, and an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin.

From 1976 to 1981 Nemtsov studied physics at Ural State University, receiving a PhD in Physics and Mathematics in 1985. In the late 1980s Boris Nemtsov worked as a senior scientist at the Gorky Radiophysics Research Institute.

In the mid 1980s, following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Nemtsov led successful protests against construction of a new nuclear power plant in Sochi. In the wake of this success he ran as a candidate to the Soviet Congress, but failed to receive the backing of local Communist officials and so was excluded. Three years later, he ran for Congress again, but his reform ideas proved too radical for the local electorate.

His first major political success came in 1990, when he was elected to the Supreme Soviet representing Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), defeating a number of strong Communist Party candidates.

The following year Nemtsov was appointed Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region. In this role he was able to implement some of his reform ideas, boosting the region's economy significantly. He was elected to the Federation Council in 1993 and reelected governor by popular vote in 1995.

In 1997 Nemtsov entered national politics when he was appointed first deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation. He was given responsibility for reforming the energy sector and enjoyed significant popularity. He was mentioned as a possible president cadidate for 2000 elections.

The 1998 economic crash damaged Nemtsov's reputation however. A close colleague of Anatoly Chubais, who was widely blamed for the crisis, Nemtsov resigned as deputy prime minister. He briefly served in the position again later in 1998, before Yeltsin dissolved the Kiriyenko government and Nemtsov resigned again.  

In 2003 Nemtsov led the Union of Right Forces in State Duma elections, resigning when the bloc lost the elections. In the same period, Nemtsov was advisor to then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko.

In the late 2000s, Nemtsov began a series unauthorized protests against then-President Vladimir Putin. He has been arrested repeatedly and served a 15-day jail term in January 2011. During Yuri Luzhkov's term as mayor of Moscow, Nemtsov was also sued for defamation by the then-mayor for allegations he made about his wife's business empire.

Despite his involvement in the opposition movement and indications he would run for the presidency in 2008, Nemtsov did not stand for election, backing fellow oppositionist Mikhail Kasyanov instead.

Following Dmitry Medvedev's election to the presidency in 2008, Nemtsov co-founded the political opposition movement Solidarnost (Solidarity) with Gary Kasparov to unite Russia's fragmented opposition. The following year Nemtsov attempted to stand for mayor of Sochi in the city's April 26 election, but he was heavily defeated by Anatoly Pakhomov.

On December 31 2010 Nemtsov was arrested during an opposition rally in Moscow. He was sentenced to and served fifteen days in prison.

In late May 2011, Nemtsov along with long-term ally Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Vladimir Milov asked the Justice Ministry to register a new party, The Party of People's Freedom (PARNAS). The party aimed to reduce Russian presidential terms from six to four years and free Mikhail Khodorkovsky. It failed to receive approval to run in December 2011 State Duma elections, however.

In the aftermath of those elections, and the wave of public protests that followed, a series of Nemtsov's private conversations were published on the Lifenews Web site, which revealed his personal views of many members of the opposition.

Boris Nemtsov Web site

 

 

 

All Articles >>