Since the assassination of Boris Nemtsov on February 27, thousands of his friends, colleagues, and supporters around the world, from Moscow to Washington, D.C., have lamented his loss. To honor his memory, the U.S. Congress and the National Endowment for Democracy hosted a panel discussion on April 30 titled “The Struggle for Russia’s Future.”
Unlike the average panel discussion, the symposium honoring Boris Nemtsov called “The Struggle for Russia’s Future” was full of emotion. Members of Congress and leading Western experts on Russia—many of whom knew Nemtsov personally—spoke about his contribution to Russian politics and about how to advance his goals of promoting democratic reforms.
Here are some highlights from the discussion:
Representative Eliot Engel (Democrat, NY) described Nemtsov as a man whose “charm and youthful vigor embodied the hope and promise of what we all thought was a new Russia.”
Irwin Cotler (Canadian Parliament member) sent a statement praising Nemtsov’s ability to inspire with “his vision of a democratic Russia anchored in the rule of law.”
William Browder (former prominent investor in Russian business, helped conceive the Magnitsky Act) argued that Nemtsov was “killed because he was the most beloved” democratic politician. He also said that if someone as prominent as Nemtsov could be murdered, anyone could become a target.
David Kramer (senior director for human rights and democracy at the McCain Institute) noted that “how a regime treats its own people is often indicative of how it will behave in foreign policy.”
Leon Wieseltier (former longtime literary editor at The New Republic) expressed “disgust” and frustration at the West’s efforts in countering the Kremlin. He said that “freedom is not to be confused with democracy” and that democracy is not inevitable. He argued that sanctions alone cannot be expected to stop Putin and that the U.S. should consider formulating a new strategy toward the Kremlin, recommending that weapons and more funding be sent to Ukraine because “our policy of engagement has failed.”
Lilia Shevtsova (senior fellow at the Brookings Institution) said that with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the murder of Nemtsov, the post-Cold War order is now over. The previous model of personalized power can no longer live in a “peaceful modality,” she said. The more the Kremlin tries to survive using these “besieged-fortress mobilization militarist” slogans, the more the system undermines itself, she warned, arguing that “the system has embarked on a suicidal path.”
Shevtsova said she believed it was crucial for the West to realize that Kremlin-connected elites have latched onto Western resources like a leech: they co-opt Western politicians and business people, keep bank accounts in the West, and take advantage of the West when it suits them. The West must eradicate this “cancer” that is spreading through it, she said.
Vladimir Kara-Murza (former advisor to Nemtsov and senior policy advisor at Institute of Modern Russia) said Nemtsov always “said what he believed, always did what he said.” For him, this ultimately meant opposing Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule instead of “settling for comfortable collaboration.” Kara-Murza said that while he favors promoting change in Russia from within, he believes the U.S. can help by adding people to its “Magnitsky list,” which enacts sanctions on Russian officials suspected of human rights violations.
Together with RPR-Parnas chairman Mikhail Kasyanov, Kara-Murza recently met with lawmakers in Washington to share a list of eight state propagandists who “use their government podium, their government media, to vilify Boris” as a traitor and an enemy of Russia. Nemtsov had long been a proponent of foreign sanctions against corrupt Russian officials, Kara-Murza said.
