It has been almost six years to the day since the assassination of Russian opposition politician, and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov. It was a crime that shocked Russians and people around the globe. Nemtsov was gunned down while walking on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky bridge across the Moscow River just minutes away from the Kremlin. Host Marco Werman talks with one of Nemtsov’s allies and friends Vladimir Kara-Murza. He’s also the chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation and the vice president of the Free Russia Foundation.TRANSCRIPT:It was a crime that shocked Russians. People everywhere really. The assassination of Russian opposition politician, and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov.Tomorrow, Nemtsov’s supporters, friends and family, will mark six years since his death. Nemtsov was gunned down while walking on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky bridge, across the Moscow River, just steps from the Kremlin.We’re joined now one of Nemtsov’s allies and friends Vladimir Kara-Murza. He’s also the chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation and the vice president of the Free Russia Foundation. He’s speaking with us about his colleague and friend Boris Nemtsov, almost six years to the day, after his death.Marco Werman:Vladimir, thank you very much for being with us. Can you take us back to that day in 2015 and how you learned about Boris Nemtsov death? Where were you? What were you doing? And just if you could recall the chain of events for you that day when you learned about the assassination?Vladimir-Kara-Murza:Well, you’ve you’ve probably just asked me the most difficult question anybody could ever ask me. Because for me, that day, that wretched day, February 27, 2015, has forever divided my life into the before and after. Boris Nemtsov was not just a close colleague, a like minded political leader, someone whom I aspire to in public life, but also a very close friend. And the most amazing thing about him is that he was not only a very effective, successful politician, but also very profoundly decent human being. That’s not a combination you encounter often. To answer your question, we were supposed to see each other the following day, February 28th. And the last message exchange I have with him was at 11:13 p.m. At 11:31 p.m. he was killed. No one believed it at first. It was something that you just couldn’t get into your head. Yes, everybody has known for a long time that there are major risks associated with being in opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia. But frankly, to assassinate the opposition leader steps away from the Kremlin was a red line that even those of us in the opposition didn’t think the regime would cross. But it did. It did that night.Marco Werman:Vladimir, there is some news to discuss about that killing six years ago. But I think first it would be valuable to just take a moment and remind our listeners about Boris Nemtsov, his career and what you believe he represented.Vladimir-Kara-Murza:Well, Boris Nemtsov was one of those people who symbolized that embodied our hopes and aspirations for democracy in the 1990s. Here he came on to politics, on the democratic wave in the late 80s, early 90s, when things were changing, when totalitarianism was crumbling, when hundreds of thousands of Russians were in the streets demanding freedom, demanding dignity, demanding democracy. And at a very young age of 32, he became governor of one of the biggest industrial regions in Russia — Nizhny Novgorod region on the Volga River. And very quickly, within the space of literally a few years, he turned that Soviet era industrial backwater into a success story of free market reforms. And then in the late 90s, he was brought by President Yeltsin to Moscow to become first deputy prime minister of Russia. And he was almost certainly considered to be the man that President Yeltsin wanted to succeed, replacing him in the Kremlin. We know that history decided otherwise. And you know what a different world this would have been, not just Russia, but the world had Boris Nemtsov become president after Yeltsin instead of the man that has been here now for more than 20 years, Vladimir Putin.Marco Werman:Tantalizing what ifs if he had lived. But here we are six years later — what do we know about the assassination of Boris Nemtsov? Have we learned new information as to who was behind the killing?Vladimir-Kara-Murza:Well, we actually know everything. Exactly a year ago, in February of 2020, the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has presented its oversight report into the Nemtsov assassination, detailing when, where and how Vladimir Putin gave the order for the assassination of Boris Nemtsov. And this OSCE report also makes a very clear conclusion that the reason for this continued impunity for the organizers and masterminds of Boris Nemtsov assassination is not the lack of professionalism by Russian law enforcement agencies, but the lack of political will on the part of the Russian government. Very damning, very powerful, very strong conclusions. I have absolutely no doubt that one day, all of those who had organized and carried out the assassination of Boris Nemtsov from the lowest perpetrators to the highest mastermind will face justice before a court of law here in Russia.Marco Werman:I’m speaking with Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian opposition politician, on the eve of the anniversary of the death of Boris Nemtsov. Just last summer, the most high profile opposition politician now in Russia, Alexei Navalny, was poisoned. He survived, but only to be then imprisoned in Russia. When he went back, you to Vladimir, you were poisoned twice in 2015 and 2017, and you did survive, thankfully. What do all these cases, though, tell you about Russia’s current leadership?Vladimir-Kara-Murza:Well, thanks to amazing investigative journalism by a Belling Cat, we actually know exactly how the system operates. And as you know, there was a detailed investigation that came out in December of last year into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. There was an equally detailed and comprehensive investigation by Belling Cat into my two poisonings that came out a couple of weeks ago, just this month in February. And they detailed the specific units of the FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service. This is the main successor to the Soviet KGB that is tasked with targeting and assassinating political opponents of Vladimir Putin. We actually know the precise names and ranks of the people who are doing this. I have to tell you about this investigation into my poisoning, came out a couple of weeks ago. I’m probably not going to be able to find words to express the range of emotions I felt. Because, you know, it’s one thing to intellectually know that someone is trying to kill you. And it’s very different when you are actually shown the specific names and photographs of the people who did this. Just to take a step back and think that in a 21st century, a European country is operating a professional squad of assassins that is employed by the state and that is tasked with physically eliminating opponents of the dictator.Marco Werman:I mean, it’s terrifying. I cannot imagine seeing the faces and knowing the names of the people who tried to kill you. You were talking about this earlier, Vladimir, since 2015, after Nemtsov was killed, activists have made a makeshift memorial site of the place of his assassination. Flowers are there candles, framed photos, especially on the anniversary of his killing. But now even this, I gather, has become another battle with authorities. Explain this. Why is this memorial a site now an issue for Moscow police?Vladimir-Kara-Murza:Well, from the very beginning, the Kremlin, the current ruling regime, has fought the memory of Boris Nemtsov just as they had fought him before in life. They have time after time rejected repeated petitions to install even a small memorial plaque on the site of the assassination. Time after time, they have destroyed that makeshift memorial on the bridge, physically sending in the police and the municipal services to pillage away the flowers and take away the candles and detain the volunteers. They have done this dozens of times since 2015. Most recently, just this week, they are fighting a dead man. They want people to forget. They want to pretend that Boris Nemtsov had never existed. And yet they’re not succeeding in this. And this infuriates them even more, because year after year, thousands of people marched through the streets of Moscow in remembrance. Every single day, people come to that bridge to lay flowers and light candles. Four world capitals — Washington, DC, Prague, Vilnius and Kiev — have been squares near Russian embassies after Boris Nemtsov in the most pro-Russian act I could ever think of to name a square in front of the Russian embassy after a Russian statesman. To me, this is a very pro-Russian, very patriotic act. And whatever these people in the Kremlin do for all of their efforts, for all of their attempts to erase the memory of Boris Nemtsov, they are not going to succeed. And so this Saturday, thousands of us will once again be on the bridge. And if they take away the flowers we’ll bring new flowers. If they take away the candles, will light new candles. I know that there will come a day when we will have Boris Nemtsov streets here in Moscow, and in St. Petersburg and in Nizhny Novgorod and the other cities across Russia. But the most important monument, the best possible tribute to the memory of Boris Nemtsov will be a free and democratic Russia, a Russia that he lived for, a Russia that he gave his life for. And I have absolutely no doubt that that day will come.Marco Werman:Vladimir Kara-Murza, thank you very much for being with us again.Vladimir-Kara-Murza:Thank you, Marco. It’s always good to be on your program.