We Think of Nemtsov
28th February 2015
Boris Nemtsov’s assassination in Moscow’s center resembles something out of the times of Stalin’s Great Terror. The authorities’ reason for sanctioning the killing must not be made too mysterious to the people. The significance of the death must be clear to all, and his death must serve as a lesson. His bullet-ridden body plastered all across Russian newspapers yesterday was a warning: “Look, even a man like that cannot feel safe.” Nemtsov was one of those opposition leaders who visited the West often, who attended various conferences, acting like an informal foreign minister of this “other Russia”. Cynics used to say that talks held in hotel lobbies in Zurich don’t bother the Kremlin. Boris’ crumpled body, beamed into every television set across Russia yesterday, is a clear message to all opposition leaders, journalists and independent activists in Russia: “Don’t think that abroad you can say what you want. The authorities keep an eye on you whether you are in Warsaw or Washington. Enough is enough: time to choose sides.”