Nemtsov, Boris Yefimovich, 1959–2015, Russian physicist and politician. He worked at the Gorky Radiophysics Research Institute (1981–90) before he was elected to the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies (1990). After the USSR's collapse, he served as governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region (1991–97) and as member of the Federation Council (1993–97). A strong supporter of President Boris Yeltsin, he was appointed first deputy prime minister and energy minister (1997–98). In 1999 he cofounded the liberal-democratic Union of Right Forces and was elected to the State Duma, becoming its deputy speaker. He served as party leader (2000–2004), then was an economic adviser (2005–6) to Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko. He co-founded (2008) Solidarity, a Russian opposition movement, and in 2012 became co-chairman of the Republican party of Russian–People's Freedom party. A reform-minded liberal and an advocate of a pluralistic political system, he was an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. Nemtsov was assassinated days before he was to lead a march protesting the war in Ukraine; a report he had worked on, released after his death, detailed the cost in money and Russian lives of Russia's involvement in Ukraine.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Russian, Soviet, and CIS History: Biographies
