LONDON – On the fourth anniversary of Boris Nemtsov’s murder, his friend and ally Andrey Sidelnikov gathered supporters in front of the Russian Embassy in London to remember the opposition leader shot dead next to the Kremlin on Feb. 27, 2015.
One of Russia’s most prominent Vladimir Putin critics, the 55-year-old Nemtsov was crossing the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow with his partner, Ukrainian Anna Duritskaya, when he was shot six times from behind. Five Chechen men were convicted for Nemtsov’s murder following a trial in 2017, but friends and family of Nemtsov still seek justice as they believe that the masterminds of the assassination have never been charged.
“Those who ordered this murder have still not been punished. We demand the Russian authority hold a thorough investigation. To do so the political regime has to be changed because obviously the current regime, which in my opinion had itself ordered and organized the murder, will not catch themselves,” said Andrey Sidelnikov, the head of the international movement Speak Louder.
Flowers, candles and black-and-white portraits of Nemtsov lie on the pavement opposite the Russian Embassy in London. No broadsheets with political slogans are there, though. Nemtsov supporters decided to keep this year’s commemoration in London quiet and did not do much to advertise their meeting.
“It is my personal tragedy. Those who think they have to be there they will be there anyway,” said Sidelnikov.
Sidelnikov and Nemtsov used to be friends and colleagues. They first met in 1997, when Nemtsov was founding the Young Russia movement. Soon they both were involved in the creation of the Union of Right Forces political party.
“Our political ways diverged when I left the Union of Right Forces and called upon Boris to leave it as well because by that time the party had already started cooperating with the Kremlin administration. Well, we maintained warm relations. I was welcome in his house, we celebrated birthdays together,” explained Sidelnikov.
Sidelnikov fled to London and asked for political asylum in 2007 after persecution in Moscow. Since then the friends met rarely. They saw each other for the last time three years before Nemtsov’s murder when the politician visited London to speak in the British Parliament, also for the last time in life.
“He came for one day. We met in the Parliament and then spent the whole day together. We walked around, talked about politics and some personal things. Then I took him to the airport.”
Nemtsov had special links to Britain, said Sidelnikov. He was close to the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her family. Their warm relations began in 1993 when Thatcher visited the Nizhny Novgorod region governed by Nemtsov.
“When Margaret Thatcher died, only two [Russian] people, Boris Nemtsov and Mikhail Gorbachev were invited to the official ceremony. Gorbachev could not come because of his illness. Boris was unable to come as he was attending Navalny’s trial in Kirov so he asked me to represent him at this ceremony.”
Britain reacted to the verdict of the trial for Boris Nemtsov’s murderers with concern, saying that the investigation must continue.
“Responsibility for his murder goes further than those already convicted, and we call on the Russian government to bring the perpetrators to account,” said a spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office.
The US officials issued a similar statement. This point of view was shared by all of the people gathered in front of the Russian Embassy in London last night.
Lubov Whitfield, 70, among other Nemtsov’s supporters, believes that justice has not been done:
“He was a very bright political figure, too bright, so he was assassinated. So terribly, in the back – it is a nightmare what is happening in Russia.”
Nemtsov was a friend and supporter of Ukraine. In 2014, he condemned the annexation of Crimea by Russia and signed a statement demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and cease propaganda, material and military support for the Russia-backed separatists in Donbas.
Nemtsov had been killed one day before the politician was about to lead the opposition march Vesna, a street demonstration organized to protest against the economic state in Russia and also against the war in Ukraine.
Wrapped in the Ukrainian flag and accompanied by other five activists, the leader of the London EuroMaidan movement, Natalia Ravlyuk, came to the Russian Embassy in London to support the meeting: “Despite Russia attacking Ukraine, we as Ukrainian volunteers of London Euromaidan have always been convinced that there are also smart, kind and decent people in Russia. They are few, but they are. Such meetings are important for combating Russian propaganda because there are at least two pro-Russian newspapers in London, and there is also an office of the RT (Russia Today) there. The organizers of this meeting are a drop in the ocean of Russian falsehood, but they should keep going and fight for the truth.”
After Nemtsov’s death, his allies released a report on Russian troops secretly fighting in Ukraine. The document is based on the research Nemtsov did before he had been killed.
The report called “Putin. War” details the takeover of Crimea by Russian soldiers in February 2014 and their subsequent deployment to aid separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.
Sidelnikov’s movement Speak Louder this year aims to open a memorial bench for Nemtsov in one of the central parks in London. Two days ago a memorial plaque was opened on the apartment building in Nizhni Novgorod where Nemtsov lived. Ukraine recently named a square next to the Russian Embassy in Kyiv after Nemtsov.
