NEMTSOV, BORIS YEFIMOVICH

(1959– )

Politician. Born inSochitoJewishand Russian parents, Boris Nemtsov was raised as a Christian in theOrthodoxfaith. He holds a PhD in mathematics and physics. His start inpoliticscame when he organized a protest in response to theChernobyl disasterin 1986. Four years later, he ran for office in Sochi on a radical reform platform; his bid for the SovietCongress of People’s Deputiesfailed, but a year later he won a seat in theSupreme Sovietof theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republicas a representative of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod).During theAugust Coupof 1991, he forged a profitable alliance withBoris Yeltsin. In the early 1990s, he turned Nizhny Novgorod into a “laboratory of reform” through innovative and dramatic economic programs. Running as an economic liberal, he won a seat in theFederation Councilin 1993. During the mid-1990s, his political star rose and he was well positioned to assume the presidency in 2000, until theruble crisisof 1998 struck. In 1999, he helped found theUnion of Right Forces, and won election to theState Dumaon the party’s ticket.

Nemtsov became deputy speaker the next year, but was constrained from fully articulating his ideas due toVladimirPutin’s overwhelming popularity as president. He resigned his leadership of the party in 2004 after its poor performance in parliamentary elections. After leaving the Duma, he became a strident critic of the Putin administration. In 2004 he supported Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western candidate, in the 2004Ukrainianpresidential elections, and was appointed to his cabinet after the Orange Revolution. This created controversy in bothUkraineand Russia, and he was ultimately forced to step down. After returning to Russia, he resumed his criticism of the Kremlin, and landed himself in jail in 2007 for taking part in an unauthorized protest. He has more recently joined forces withGarry Kasparovand made an unsuccessful run for mayor of his hometown and site of the 2014 Winter Olympiad, Sochi.

See alsoColor revolutions.