April 7 was the 40th day since the murder of the Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. “The moment of non-silence” commemoration events were held in Moscow and other Russian cities. “We bring flowers to the site of the murder, and they are taken away. We organize a concert to honor Boris Nemtsov’s memory, and it is banned. They let us know that it is better to forget. But we remember,” wrote the organizers on the eve of the event on Facebook. They urged all caring passersby to “stop for a moment,” and all car drivers to “honk their horns.”
More than 500 people came to honor Nemtsov’s memory to Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, the site of his murder. People brought flowers and lit candles. There were comrades of the oppositionist present: Ilya Yashin, Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Dmitry Gudkov. According to Yashin, Nemtsov’s colleagues from the Republican Party of Russia will send an appeal to the capital’s authorities with a request to install a commemoration sign on the site of the politician’s murder. “We hope that the authorities will treat this appeal with understanding, because everyone sees the amount of sorrow the death of Boris Nemtsov aroused, how many Moscow residents bring flowers there daily. I hope that both Moscow and federal officials will treat the memory of Boris Nemtsov with due respect,” said Yashin as quoted by BBC.
Dozhd TV channel carried out the marathon “Nemtsov’s Bridge” recently. The politician’s family and friends were invited to participate in it, as well as musicians, including lead singer of Okean Elzy Sviatoslav Vakarchuk. The musicians performed at the TV channel’s studio, because all Moscow platforms rejected them, using government’s pressure as an excuse.
Events commemorating Nemtsov took place in other Russian cities as well. In Nizhny Novgorod, in the politician’s hometown, people formed the word “BORIS” (Russian for “fight”) on the quay, informs the website grani.ru. Civic activists in Krasnodar hung a banner honoring Nemtsov’s memory and saying “Heroes don’t die.” Tambov resident Andrey Poliakov carried out a one-man action by standing on city streets with a poster “Nemtsov 40 days…” He explained his act in the following way: “I expected that our MPs would organize mourning events honoring Nemtsov’s memory, since Nemtsov was an MP. Administration officials and the governor, who applauded him once, entrepreneurs who once gained the ability to earn money and buy luxury cars and expensive villas thanks to Nemtsov and his policy. But as I saw neither compassion nor condolences on their part, I had to organize this action instead of them.”
In Kyiv, caring city dwellers also brought flowers to the Embassy of Russia.
Let us remind that Nemtsov was killed on February 27 on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge. The main suspect is deputy commander of Sever Battalion of the Armed Force of Chechnya Zaur Dadayev, who recently announced his innocence regarding this murder. He noted that he “testified under pressure.”
The Day asked Russian independent journalist Semen NOVOPRUDSKY to evaluate the Boris Nemtsov commemoration event in Moscow.
“This event is a case when the number of participants does not matter at all, but what matters is the personal participation and preservation of memory about each individual. One of the main horrors of what we have seen in Russia during the past two years is that it stopped being a country of individual people. We have very few citizens left who want to be aware. Everything Boris Nemtsov had been doing during the past few years was not that much about politics, as it was the actions of a responsible citizen. He showed an example that it is possible to engage in politics in legal and peaceful ways in Russia, and that it is possible to be a responsible citizen. That is, not someone who blindly welcomes anything promoted by the government, but someone who tries to understand what it is doing. He tried to speak honestly about the troubles that a certain policy might bring in lives of ordinary people as well.
“The memory about Boris Nemtsov is important for two reasons. Firstly, so we would remain the citizens of our country. And secondly, so this topic isn’t either distorted or removed from Russian information space. The government in Russia is set up in such a way that it is very important to remind it about what it has to do. There is little hope, but the government has to investigate this crime and find the masterminds behind Nemtsov’s murder.
“Nemtsov’s life is an example of how one can be a responsible citizen, and what ordinary Russians can do to change Russia.”
