Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 27.02.2020

Photo: Nizhny Novgorod. Russia. Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Nemtsov,  Governor of Nizhny Novgorod, at the economic session. Photo by ITAR-TASS / Nikolai Moshkov

Five years ago, Boris Nemtsov was killed. A year before that, Crimea was already annexed, the war in Donbass was gaining momentum with might and main. However, the demonstrative killing by the Kremlin’s walls of an opposition politician, an uncompromising critic of authoritarian power and personal opponent of Vladimir Putin became the starting point for subsequent troubles and crimes. Five years after the murder of Nemtsov:

– thousands of civilians died in the civil war in Syria as a result of actions involving the Russian army; over a hundred Russian servicemen returned home in coffins (according to the Russian Ministry of Defense);

– the Kremlin-backed war in eastern Ukraine involving Russian mercenaries claimed thousands of lives; dozens of thousands of people were injured, almost a million turned into refugees (according to the UN);

– the number of political prisoners in Russia has grown almost sevenfold – from 46 in 2015 to 314 political prisoners as of the end of 2019 (according to the Memorial human rights centre).

Meanwhile, over the past five years, the murder of Boris Nemtsov has not been truly investigated, the customers have not been established (it is obvious that President Vladimir Putin is politically responsible for the murder of his opponent, and Nemtsov was shot almost under the windows of his office). Instead, all these years, the atmosphere of hatred for dissidents has only escalated. The fabricated the Network case, the New Greatness case, and the repressive Moscow riots case are designed to intimidate society, silence all the dissenting and those dissatisfied with the situation in the country. And Putin’s constitutional amendments should enshrine the repressive and authoritarian nature of the corporate state.

The Boris Nemtsov March will take place on 29 February. The march in memory of Boris. But this is also a march in defence of the Constitution, in defence of our freedom, our law, our country.