In Photos: Remembering Boris Nemtsov's Life, 9 Years After His Murder
Prominent Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was murdered on this day in 2015.
Nemtsov was a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin's regime and of the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
As war broke out in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine's forces, Nemtsov said: "I consider Putin’s war against Ukraine to be the most serious of crimes. I want to say right away: this isn’t a war between Russia and Ukraine. I don’t believe in that definition. This war belongs to Putin. It’s an absolutely cynical, deceitful, bloody, and fratricidal war against our brothers in Ukraine."
He was shot and killed by hired assassins while walking near the Kremlin with his girlfriend.
Nemtsov's murder marked a turning point in Russia's crackdown on Kremlin critics. Today, Nemtsov's close associates Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin are serving long prison sentences, while fellow opposition leader Alexei Navalny recently died in an Arctic prison.
Here's a look back at photos from throughout Nemtsov's life:
Nemtsov was a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin's regime and of the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
As war broke out in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine's forces, Nemtsov said: "I consider Putin’s war against Ukraine to be the most serious of crimes. I want to say right away: this isn’t a war between Russia and Ukraine. I don’t believe in that definition. This war belongs to Putin. It’s an absolutely cynical, deceitful, bloody, and fratricidal war against our brothers in Ukraine."
He was shot and killed by hired assassins while walking near the Kremlin with his girlfriend.
Nemtsov's murder marked a turning point in Russia's crackdown on Kremlin critics. Today, Nemtsov's close associates Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin are serving long prison sentences, while fellow opposition leader Alexei Navalny recently died in an Arctic prison.
Here's a look back at photos from throughout Nemtsov's life:
Nemtsov, as governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, holds a meeting with local voters in 1992.
Nikolai Moshkov / TASS
President Boris Yeltsin and Nizhny Novgorod region Governor Boris Nemtsov during a meeting in the Kremlin, 1997.
Alexander Chumichev / TASS
Nemtsov with his wife Raisa and their daughter Zhanna in 1996.
Dmitry Kosolapov / TASS
Vladimir Putin with Nemtsov, leader of the Union of Right Forces party, in 2000.
kremlin.ru
Nemtsov addresses a rally in memory of slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow in 2007.
wikipedia/commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Nemtsov (second from left) at the first meeting of the For Russia Without Despotism and Corruption in Moscow democratic coalition in 2010.
wikipedia/commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Nemtsov speaks at a rally of thousands against alleged vote-rigging in the State Duma elections on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square, 2011.
Zurab Zavakhadze / VOA
Nemtsov at the March of Millions, a protest against the 2012 presidential election results, in Moscow.
Sergei Rodovnichenko (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Nemtsov at the March of Peace in Moscow in March 2014. The banner's slogan reads "The Occupation of Crimea Is the Shame of Russia."
"Throughout this event, people have been asking me: why did you come to this march? Because I’m a patriot of my country, because I oppose the war. I don’t want to see soldiers from Moscow, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod returning in body bags. Our mothers, wives, and children crying — I don’t want that. I don’t believe we have the right to behave this way towards a friendly country. It’s impudent and vile. And most of all, it will hurt Russia," Nemtsov said at the rally.
"We must say no to war. We must call for an end to this senile insanity. We must demand a Russia and a Ukraine without Putin. Glory to Russia! Glory to Ukraine!"
"Throughout this event, people have been asking me: why did you come to this march? Because I’m a patriot of my country, because I oppose the war. I don’t want to see soldiers from Moscow, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod returning in body bags. Our mothers, wives, and children crying — I don’t want that. I don’t believe we have the right to behave this way towards a friendly country. It’s impudent and vile. And most of all, it will hurt Russia," Nemtsov said at the rally.
"We must say no to war. We must call for an end to this senile insanity. We must demand a Russia and a Ukraine without Putin. Glory to Russia! Glory to Ukraine!"
Bogomolov.PL (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Nemtsov at the Zamoskvorecky courthouse to support defendants in the Bolotnaya Square case, 2014. More than 200 supporters were detained near the courthouse.
Ilya Voyager (CC BY 2.0)
A view of Nemtsov's body near the Kremlin. Nemtsov was shot four times in the back while he was walking on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge on the evening of Feb. 27, 2015.
Mikhail Japaridze / TASS
People on Tuesday laid flowers at the site where Nemtsov was killed to mark the ninth anniversary of his death.
AP / TASS
