Boris Nemtsov

"People in power remind me of people who find themselves in a room with windows and doors, where a huge number of microbes are flying. Sooner or later, the people in power deteriorate, simply because immunity is lost over time, and at some point you get infected with something. Elections and independent press are nothing more than opening those windows and airing the "corridors of power.""

"I actually expect to live in Russia, so I care about what happens here."

"We have few truly patriotic and smart candidates, and those few are busy figuring things out with each other. During the last elections various coalitions were possible, though none of them came to be - everybody was on their own. It is ridiculous."

"Had I held a high position within the government, I'd gather big russian bussiness and give them a strict order: to buy up Sevastopol property under government guarantees. Then the talks surrounding the Black Sea fleet would take on a very different form: it's difficult to ignore investors. Interestingly enough I've received a large amount of offers from Sevastopol enterprises wishing to be bought by Russian capital. I am confident that that is a much more reliable path than shaking the air by statements like "we will never give up an inch of Russian land". Historical justice must be restored by capitalist methods."

"First things first, for many years I've steadily supported the unification of the opposition, but right now I have to say that Jews are more likely to find an agreement with Arabs than for us with Yavlinsky — it's an assessment based on the results of our discussion. It's sad, but true."

"The Magnitsky Act is the most pro-Russian law ever passed by a foreign legislature."

"When we in Russia establish law and order, when the country has an established independent judiciary, I will be the first to go to Brussels and Strasbourg and lobby for the law to be repealed, because we will deal with our scoundrels ourselves, and we won’t need any Magnitsky Law."

"[I]n Europe, faced with the choice between human rights and gas, many politicians pick gas."

"The system always breaks down in Russia when irreconcilable contradictions develop within the ruling clan."

"This isn't your war... It’s Putin’s war for power and money."

"I know what needs to be done... We need to write a report "Putin. War", publish it in huge numbers and hand it out on the streets. We will tell how Putin unleashed this war. That's the only way to defeat propaganda."

"[T]he truth is that Putin is war and crisis."

"Vladimir Putin would have voted for Yanukovych. He's fucking crazy, Vladimir Putin, just so you understand."

"In the tightly controlled and airproof “vertical of power” that is Vladimir Putin’s Russia, even a handful of dissenting voices in legislative institutions—especially when they are loud and persistent—can present a serious threat to the system. Such was the voice of the late Boris Nemtsov."

"Nemtsov sacrificed a lot for politics, for a freer Russia — and I’m not just talking about his life, his mortal life."

"The fact is that in Europe, faced with the choice between human rights and gas, many politicians pick gas."