“In order to modernize, change the Putin system.” -Boris Nemtsov
Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Nizhny Novgorod Governor Boris Nemtsov presented his prospects for democracy in Russia at a FPI luncheon in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Sharing a dais with CFR’s Dan Senor, his message was that "Russia's people need democracy, human rights, and predictable policies." Nemtsov has been arrested three times while continuing to be politically active with the Strategy 31 civic movement, which rallies on the 31st of every other month to protest the lack of democracy and high corruption in Russia. Even though there is a rally planned for December 31, he proposed a “huge rally” on December 12 to mark Khodorkovsky’s seven years in jail, saying that current “public opinion believes that Khodorkovsky is a victim of Putin.” He is also trying to advance his national political caucus, but said, "there are forty-seven ways for officials to reject the registration of new political parties," and that “Putin is very repressive about registrations.” He went on to say that “Putin has the mentality of a criminal guy. He is a combination of Stalin and Abramovich.” He said, “Obama should not be Putin’s friend” and thinks it is a mistake for the U.S. president to “close his eyes about Russia’s downfalls in favor of the “reset” and supply routes to Afghanistan.” Citing the Kaliningrad, Khimki, and Kashin public demonstrations, Nemtsov said, “street policy is now the only policy,” because “Medvedev responds to rallies because such events go against his modernization initiative.” Nemtsov then lambasted the Speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov for saying “the parliament is not a place for discussion.” Economically, “Russia is just a banana republic, all about oil and gas." During the discussions, he praised well-known Russia expert and NSC Senior Director Michael McFaul, but then ardently chided him for co-chairing the U.S. Russia Presidential Civil Society Working Group with Vladislav Surkov, the first deputy chairman of the Russian presidential administration. Surkov, he said, runs the government’s censorship policies, and that “Russia’s people get no information or news,” and so it was “amazing” to him that Surkov is on the commission when he should be on an international blacklist instead. He called Surkov the "domestic enforcer." In response to a question about Ukraine, he said, “Yanukovych wants to be a Putin, but Ukrainians are not like Russians. Ukraine has a West, is a better democracy, and has a more diverse parliament.” He said, however, that tensions will increase between the Ukrainian east and west and that "behind Yanukovych are the Donetsk oligarchs." By the end of the stimulating, two-hour event, the closing message that echoed around the room was Nemtsov’s comment that “Putinism is the deficit of truth.” -Sasha Schmemann, managing editor
