Moscow, Russia - Thousands gathered this week in solidarity to mourn the loss of Boris Nemtsov and demand an investigation into his death. Mr. Nemtsov was shot multiple times in the back and died in Moscow on February 27, 2015. Why was Mr. Nemtsov killed?
Boris Nemtsov has been heavily involved Russian politics since the time that President Yeltsin was in power in the 1990s. He has served in high level positions such as first deputy prime minister. Various accounts indicate that he was a reformist politician and an opponent of Vladimir Putin, who was also involved at high levels in the Yeltsin government in the 1990s. Nemtsov was extremely popular with the Russian people during the Yeltsin administration and was considered a potential replacement for Yeltsin as President of Russia. However, Putin was Prime minister at the time that Yeltsin prematurely left office and became interim President. With Yeltsin's departure Nemtsov was pushed out of the Kremlin's inner circle. The once rising star of Russian politics became part of an opposition that was slowly becoming irrelevant as the Kremlin, under the guidance of Valdimir Putin, began to increasingly consolidate power. He spent the next decade attempting to build a pro-democracy, pro-reform party in a country where it was increasingly difficult to do so. Though, there are many who say that Nemtsov's greatest challenge was not his opposition to corruption of the Russian system but that he was openly critical of President Valdimir Putin. But why was he murdered now?
Being a reformer in Russia no doubt created many enemies for Mr. Nemtsov. However, he managed to survive in such a system for years. What was different now? There are rumors that Mr. Nemtsov was working on a report documenting President Putin's involvement in Ukraine. He was afraid for his life but he felt that his high level involvement with the Russian government in the past would protect him from such lethal action. The document that Mr. Nemtsov was supposedly working on detailed the connection between President Putin's government in Moscow and the Separatists in Ukraine. In the days before his death he is rumored to have been gathering evidence on the presence of Russian servicemen in Ukraine. He may have been talking with the families of Russian servicemen who had died in combat in Ukraine. Reportedly, he was close to the completion of the report and even had a title, "Putin and the War". The Russian government denies supporting the Separatists therefore a report documenting such a connection would irreparably damage the government's credibility at home and abroad.
Mr. Nemtsov is not the first popular critic of President Putin's government that has perished under mysterious circumstances. On October 7th, 2006 Anna Politkovskaya was killed and found in the elevator of her apartment building in central Moscow. Ms. Politkovskaya was a harsh critic of President Putin's government and its involvement in the Second Chechen War as well as its stifling of Russian civil liberties. Another widely known Putin critic to die under mysterious circumstances was Alexander Litvinenko. Mr. Litvinenko was an ex-Russian spy and, a vocal critic of Mr. Putin and the FSB (the Russian Federal Security Service). He accused them of various crimes such as supporting terrorist attacks inside Russia. Alexander Litvinenko died on November 23, 2006 from complications caused by Polonium-210 poisoning. Polonium-210 is a highly toxic and very rare substance that is said to be an effective assassination method. Investigations were conducted in both of the deaths mentioned above and in both cases there is no international consensus on who really killed them.
Boris Nemtsov is the latest in a long list of critics of President Putin's government that have been permanently silenced. These were individuals who may have known too much about Russia's involvement in Chechnya, the stifling of Russian civil liberties, and its potential involvement in Ukraine. In the coming weeks the Russian government that Mr. Nemtsov was rallying against will conduct an investigation into his death. Whatever, the outcome the investigation the world has to ask, according to political scientist and Russia expert Karen Dawisha, is Russia a democracy that is failing, or a authoritarian state that is succeeding?
No comments:
Post a Comment