Dick Durbin: “Today I recognize, on the Senate floor, the life and work of a true Russian patriot: Mr. Boris Nemtsov. Tragically, Mr.…”

“Today I recognize, on the Senate floor, the life and work of a true Russian patriot: Mr. Boris Nemtsov. Tragically, Mr. Nemtsov was gunned down Friday night as he walked across the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge with his girlfriend, just yards from the Kremlin and Red Square in central Moscow. Hours before his death, he had given a radio interview where he criticized Russian President Putin for his aggression in Ukraine and Russia's own economic woes--brave acts in a nation where criticism of Putin is not tolerated. Mr. Nemtsov has been one of the most vocal and highest profile opposition leaders in recent years, tirelessly speaking up for democratic reforms and rights on behalf of the Russian people. In fact, Mr. Nemtsov has been working on behalf of the Russian people for nearly 30 years. He moved from physics into politics shortly after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, first winning a seat in the Russian Parliament in 1990. After a series of successful economic reforms as a Parliamentarian and later Governor, Nemtsov was then appointed Deputy Prime Minister under the first President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, and even had a chance at the Presidency himself. However, he returned to Parliament after the 1998 crash of the Russian stock market until 2004. Since then, he was active in everything from politics to banking, and over the years he raised repeated concerns that Putin's policies were rolling back democracy and civic freedoms in Russia. Mr.…”