He criticized Putin's government as an increasingly authoritarian, undemocratic regime, highlighting widespread embezzlement and profiteering ahead of the Sochi Olympics, and Russian political interference and military involvement in Ukraine.

As part of the same political struggle, Nemtsov was an active organizer of and participant in Dissenters' Marches, Strategy-31 civil actions and rallies "For Fair Elections".

At the same time, he was working on a report demonstrating that Russian troops were fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, which the Kremlin had been denying, and was unpopular externally but also in Russia.

[11][12] In late June 2017, five Chechnya-born men were found guilty by a jury in a Moscow court for agreeing to kill Nemtsov in exchange for 15 million rubles (US$253,000); neither the identity nor whereabouts of the person who hired them is officially known.

[1][25] In the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, Nemtsov organized a protest movement in his hometown which effectively prevented construction of a nuclear-fired boiler plant in the region.

[21] In 1989, Nemtsov unsuccessfully ran for the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies on a reform platform which for the time was quite radical, promoting ideas such as multiparty democracy and private enterprise.

After those events, Yeltsin rewarded Nemtsov's loyalty with the position of presidential representative[clarification needed] in his home region of Nizhny Novgorod.

"A brilliant young physicist", recounted Bershidsky, "he was trying to practice liberal economics in a gloomy Soviet-era industrial city that had long been off-limits to foreigners."

Nemtsov.ru Archived 18 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine sought to provide information to its users that was not available elsewhere and also was one of the first attempts by a politician to establish two-way communication with an audience.

[21] By 2003, Nemtsov was in a difficult political position – while he vehemently believed President Vladimir Putin's policies were rolling back democracy and civic freedoms in Russia, he needed to collaborate with the powerful co-chairman of the Union of Rightist Forces, Anatoly Chubais, who favoured a conciliatory line towards the Kremlin.

In the parliamentary elections of December 2003, the Union of Rightist Forces platform headed by both Nemtsov and Chubais received just 2.4 million votes, 4% of the total, and thus fell short of the 5% threshold necessary to enter Parliament and as a result lost its seats.

[38] In January 2004, Nemtsov co-authored an article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta entitled "Appeal to the Putinist Majority", with his longtime adviser and party colleague Vladimir V. Kara-Murza.

Later the same month, he co-founded "Committee 2008", an umbrella group of the Russian opposition which also included Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Bukovsky and other prominent liberals.

Nemtsov also alleged that his bank perhaps was targeted because of his friendship and support of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who had stated his intention to run for president in 2008.

[38][41] Nemtsov's main goal was to improve business ties between Ukraine and Russia, damaged after the Putin government strongly supported Yushchenko's opponent in the presidential election.

"[35] In a February 2011 interview, Nemtsov recalled that the cell in which he was imprisoned "was a stone dungeon, about one and a half by three metres, veiled in semi-darkness so it was impossible to read.

[33]Nemtsov told Newsweek in September 2011 that Putin's decision to run for president again "was predictable, but we were shocked by the hypocrisy and cynicism of the announcement: he declared he was coming back long before the elections.

"[62] In a March 2012 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Nemtsov and Garry Kasparov expressed support for "the repeal of the Jackson–Vanik amendment that impedes American trade relations with Russia".

Nemtsov and Kasparov stated that at "opposition meetings following the fraudulent March 4 election", they and their associates "publicly resolved that Mr. Putin is not the legitimate leader of Russia."

Two weeks prior to his assassination, Nemtsov had met "with an old friend", Yevgenia Albats, editor of The New Times magazine, to discuss his research into Putin's role in the war in Ukraine.

[8][74] BBC News reported: "In his last tweet, Mr. Nemtsov sent out an appeal for Russia's divided opposition to unite at an anti-war march he was planning for Sunday."

"[12] The night after Nemtsov's murder, his papers, writings and computer hard drives were confiscated in a police search of his apartment on Malaya Ordynka street.

[83] LifeNews, a publication tied to Russia's security agencies, had suggested "three possible theories", namely that the killing was "revenge for forcing Duritskaya to get an abortion", or that it "had something to do with money Nemtsov was receiving from allies abroad", or that it was "an attempt to smear the Kremlin."

"[77] United States President Barack Obama called on Russia's government to launch "a prompt, impartial, and transparent" investigation to ensure that "those responsible for this vicious killing are brought to justice".

[78] On 6 December 2017, the Council of the District of Columbia held a hearing to decide on symbolically renaming a section of Wisconsin Avenue as Boris Nemtsov Plaza.

Schmemann wrote: "Tall, handsome, witty and irreverent, Mr. Nemtsov was one of the brilliant young men who burst onto the Russian stage at that exciting moment when Communist rule collapsed and a new era seemed imminent.

"[28] Julia Ioffe of The New York Times described Nemtsov after his death as "a powerful, vigorous critic of Vladimir Putin", who was "a deeply intelligent, witty, kind and ubiquitous man" who "seemed to genuinely be everyone's friend".

[92] In late June 2017, these men were found guilty by a jury in a court in Moscow for agreeing to kill Nemtsov in exchange for 15 million rubles (US$253,000); neither the identity nor whereabouts of the person who hired them has been publicly revealed.

[93][94] Serge Schmemann of The New York Times wrote that the Moscow rally seemed like "a memorial march for the hopes and dreams that lay alongside Mr. Nemtsov's murdered body in the middle of the night on the bridge to Red Square.

[11][12][97] Memoirs: Beginning in 2008, Nemtsov and Vladimir Milov published several white papers criticising Putin's government and proposing alternative ways of development for the country: