Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Yeltsin’s successor killed in front of Kremlin

Boris Nemtsov, former governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, the first Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, and the long-time possible successor to Boris Yeltsin, was killed in front of the Kremlin. The latter was an honour he never received because the Federal Security Services (FSB) recorded conversations where he spoke poorly of Yeltsin. Instead, Vladimir Putin became Yeltsin’s successor. Nemtsov was supported by billionaire Vladimir Potanin (Norilsk Nickel), who is also a former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. Nemtsov was also a billionaire in Russian roubles.He was a man of action. After that, when Nemtsov distributed copies of his book “Putin:” The Final Result" in Triumfalnaya Square, the result was a “monkey cage”. Putin became President and Nemtsov received a “monkey cage”. Nemtsov’s private life was also the subject of a great deal of attention. Nemtsov was of Jewish heritage and he enjoyed spending time in Israel. His weakness was young women, which is why he also has illegitimate children in addition to the children from his legal marriage. Nemtsov was able to remain a politician during the reign of Putin. He ran for Mayor of Sochi. He was last elected to the Yaroslavl Oblast Duma. I met Nemtsov personally in 2003, when he gave a lecture in Tallinn; I was contacted, and I invited him to visit the Tallinn City Government (photo). Namely, I organised a personal meeting for him with Edgar Savisaar. On a Sunday morning, we held a reception for him on the third floor of the Tallinn City Government. An unexpectedly amazing, emotional politician – whose friends included many world leaders – he spent an hour with us. He spoke sincerely and broadly and was truly similar to Yeltsin. But at the same time, I would say that I am not surprised at his current twist of fate.