All language subtitles for The.Man.Who.Was.Too.Free.2016.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX].eng

I saw him three days before.
He came to see me in prison.

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YTS.MX

He came at night.
That's usually not allowed.

But they let him in,
only because it was Nemtsov.

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We discussed the spring march,

...how we wouldn't hold it in the centre,
but in the city outskirts instead.

He joked around, like usual.
He took photos with all of the cops.

He was ebullient.

That night, I arrived in Moscow
at 11:30 p.m.

I went to Zhanna's place
and we went to sleep.

She switches her phone off at night.
But I don't.

About an hour later a friend called me.
We got up and ran to the bridge.

I got there about 20 minutes later.

Those 20 minutes
were the worst of my life.

Mind-numbing powerlessness.

A FILM BY MIKHAIL FISHMAN
AND VERA KRICHEVSKAYA

When I found out
that Boris had been killed,

...it was a shock for everyone.

It was impossible to believe.

It was a reality
that was impossible to accept.

I keep thinking
that I should call him.

Nemtsov was too vibrant
and too free...

...to be gone forever.

Love of power is a perversion.

You love a woman, children,
your mother and father, right?

Power can be respected,
or to the contrary,

it may be trusted, or not trusted.

BULLETS HIT ALL OF US.

But love of power is slavery.

This is Russia's main affliction.

I declare the contest open...

...and ask my grandson,
Boris Yeltsin,

...to hand me a racket and a ball.

This was Yeltsin's last visit.

He had people
from his pool with him.

Local journalists
were not as important.

But I managed to get an interview.

They were busy and playing tennis.
Then they suddenly shouted to me:

"It's either now or never."

Two and a half years ago you said
you had faith in Nemtsov,

...even though he was
a very young governor.

He said, "Yes. It's time for him
to aim for the presidency.

He's grown so much,
he's ready for the presidency."

I even remember the place:
A tennis court in Nizhny Novgorod.

He said, jokingly, for the first time:
"Well, now I am at peace.

I can retire.

Here's the young man
who will be my successor."

Dad liked him more than the rest.

I don't know why.

Maybe because they had
something in common.

They even looked a little alike:

...both were tall and imposing.

Maybe also because Dad had no sons.
He saw a kindred spirit in him.

They had common
goals and objectives.

They were like-minded.

I was also shocked,
but for a different reason.

Not because I had glorious dreams
of moving to Moscow. Not at all.

I knew that it would cause
trouble for the region.

A month later he said,
"What have you done?"

In the past, the Kremlin loved me,
but now the situation has changed.

It's now even difficult
to do academic research, you know?

Our future and our destiny
lie in politics now,

...although many people
are already sick of it.

I hope that in three or four years
the intelligentsia...

...will get out of politics...

...so they can all be left alone to work.

We won't stay in politics for long.

I mean the intelligentsia.

Boris said, "I want to run as
Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov, Jewish.

I don't want to run as a Russian.

I'm Boris, son of Yefim.
And we need tolerance in society.

I'm Jewish. If I hide it,
they'll write 'Jew' on every leaflet."

It was quite common back then.

A parliament that changes
after every election.

I think it was positive.

It's like you're with your wife,

and one day you realize
you can't live with her anymore.

It hasn't happened to me yet,
but I can imagine it.

You just can't live together.

The same thing happened
to the parliament.

The lawmakers start hating each other.
They had to leave.

They had the first live debate,
with two minutes each.

There were thirteen candidates.
It was on live TV.

After a pause, he said,

"There are so many people here
and everyone promises something.

They are good people. They promise
anything and everything.

I will not promise anything.
Except one thing." He paused.

"I will not lie."

And he looked into the camera.
"I will not lie."

Brilliant!

It was autumn 1993.

Boris Nemtsov was wearing
a black suit with white socks.

That's my first memory of him.

Boris was never a communist
or a Komsomol leader.

He was always a dissident.

He wasn't like the other
officials and factory...

..."red directors."

This ineffective regime is absurd.

It is a thing of the past.

I disliked him immensely.

He was a bit nuts.

He was a very popular governor.

Very successful.
He was handsome.

All the women in town
fell at his feet.

Quiet! Put the camera away!

He wore white socks
and was very handsome.

He was energetic, impetuous.
He was fantastic.

I became governor
because there was a revolution.

Revolutions always let
young people rise up.

People from the old system
are cast aside.

Yeltsin was a man of
experience, an adult.

He saw this young guy and said,
"You're very young.

You have no life experience.

The region is crucial to the country.
The USSR collapsed.

There is rationing.
There's no food, no medicine.

No fuel oil.

I'll put you in charge
for three months.

I'll come and check.
If you fail, I'll fire you."

After the coup, at the request
of Yeltsin and Gorbachev,

I became the head
of the USSR Cabinet.

The economy had ground to a halt,
along with the rest of the state.

Boris came to me every three days.

He could solve a million problems
because we were friends.

He had specific problems:

To make the trolleybuses
in Nizhny Novgorod run.

To keep the heat on in apartments.

There's no petrol. No petrol.

- Maybe there's premium?
- Premium? There's none at all.

- Maybe it's just today?
- It's been like this for a week.

- Let's go to a gas station.
- Without gas? There's none!

- Let's go to a gas station.
- Let's go.

- We'll go without him.
- No, he should go, too.

Why? Might as well
take everyone then.

We'll check.
If he lied to us, that's it.

It was hard.
I remember them saying,

"We have coal for X number of days,
enough food for X..."

But he managed.

The dog and pony show in the canteen
is better than usual today.

Prices rose 50-fold,
but Yeltsin came.

He said, "I want to visit
a grocery store."

I said, "OK."
He said, "I'll choose it myself."

We drove around until he said,
"This one."

Of course, all the old ladies
jumped on him:

"What have you done?" etc.

He went to the counter.
Butter was 305 rubles.

Before it was 5 rubles 50 kopeks.

Yeltsin asked me,

"Who set these prices?"

I said, "You did."
He said, "Me?"

Well, you let the prices rise
and this is where they rose to.

Who is the director
of the dairy factory?

Dokukin.

Yeltsin says: "Fire Dokukin.
And bring the prices down."

I said: "I get it.

But, you know, the prices..."

"Just fire the director."

When Yeltsin left, I called him.
He turned out to be a decent guy.

He said, "I'm head
of a Joint-Stock Company.

The governor can't fire me."

I said, "I know,
but Yeltsin asked me to."

He said: "You're a cool guy,
I don't want you to be sacked.

So I'll resign."

Yeltsin called to see
if I'd fired him.

In the spring of 1992 he persuaded me
to come to Nizhny Novgorod.

That's when I came up with a program
to save the region economically.

There'd been no modernization and
no new industry — just an oil refinery.

This is the result. All the same...

I want every petrol station
to have petrol by tomorrow.

We didn't meet
in the best circumstances.

During privatization,
our voucher fund Alfa Capital...

...bought shares in companies
that were being privatized.

This included several in the
Nizhny Novgorod region.

The local authorities
put up some obstacles.

We needed support,
or at least no resistance...

...from the administration.

So I flew to see him

with Pyotr Aven and German Khan.

We went into his office.

He said, "What are you here for?
Do you want to steal a factory from me?"

Actually what he said
was much cruder.

"Well, you're not going
to steal anything.

Give me $500 million
and the factory is yours.

Am I clear, God damn it?
Any questions?"

And we mumbled,
"Oh, you know, well, so then..."

Just babbling.

"I'm busy. Good-bye.
End of meeting."

Our relationship was strained,
to put it mildly.

He always tried to project
an equivocal attitude to the men...

...called oligarchs at the time.

So his relations with us, and me
in particular, were strained.

He kept his distance.

He would use striking metaphors.

Yes, we are repairing our house.

Yes, it's hard to live in it.

There's whitewash everywhere.
There's no place to sleep or eat.

We don't want to live like this.

But if we don't do the repairs,

...our roof will collapse
and the walls will cave in.

We don't have any choice,
or anywhere else to go.

He explained things every day,
slowly, at meetings and on TV.

Like what private property is and
why we need it. What freedom is.

Margaret Thatcher visited him,

...as did many ambassadors.

They have a nose for these things.

We sell this cheese every day.

They sensed where and when
they'd seen the future of Russia.

I believe we must not allow
the zinc-lined coffins...

...of our children ...

...and brothers to appear in Russia.

That's why I am against
our army entering Grozny...

...or any other town
or village in Chechnya.

Many men were deployed
from Nizhny Novgorod.

Special police forces went.

They died there, and it
all came down on him.

I will do everything in power...

...to persuade my superiors
to end this war.

He had to talk to the parents
who received these coffins.

There were so many coffins.

When this horrible war -
the First Chechen War - went on,

...when soldiers' mothers
travelled around Chechnya...

What did Boris do when war fever...

...and devastation
ravaged the country?

Despite being named,
officially and unofficially,

...as Yeltsin's successor,

...he collected a truckload of signatures
and brought them to Yeltsin.

I brought a truck to the Kremlin.

Yeltsin saw the signatures.

The text above them read:

"Dear Boris Nikolayevich, we demand
that you immediately stop the war."

Full stop. And signatures.

He looked at them and said:
"Are they for me or against me?"

I said, "It depends on you.

If you stop the war, they're for you.
If you don't, they're against you."

He said, "You can go."
He was furious with me.

But he didn't do anything to me.
He just switched off our direct line.

Boris sometimes opposed
the president's position,

...like when he collected
signatures against the war.

Dad was hurt by Boris.

Not hurt - sad, perhaps.

He thought they were
on the same side,

...and that Boris would understand
the logic and the need...

...for certain decisions.

But Boris wouldn't give up
if he was convinced of something.

Suddenly Yeltsin called me:

"Well, dove of peace,
will you go to Chechnya?

We'll negotiate peace."

I think he's a great man
for admitting his own mistakes.

At the airfield I met
Korzhakov and Barsukov.

They asked me to dissuade
Yeltsin from going.

I asked why.

"Because they'll kill him.
Do you want him to die?"

I said of course I didn't.

"Dissuade him, he likes you."

He came and asked
why we weren't on the plane.

I said, "They have information -

...there will be
an attempt on your life."

He looked at me and said:
"Have you chickened out?"

I said, "No." "Well then,
Get on the plane.

And you two cowards
can stay here."

He told me to stay close to him.
I said, "Of course."

He wanted to show that
he came in peace,

...and I was very popular there.
Everyone knew I wanted to end the war.

Yesterday Yandarbiyev...

...signed...

...the papers to...

...end military operations.

Stay in office,
you're still a healthy man!

I'll think about it!
Look at these young men.

No, we need him here.

- He's grown up.
- He'll be ready just in time.

- And who will lead Nizhny?
- The president.

No, it should be the governor.

The president
should take care of Russia.

The economic situation was hard.
The Duma elections were lost.

Communists and Zhirinovsky's party
were in control,

...so there was great risk
of losing the election.

Many people thought
Yeltsin wouldn't be re-elected.

The late Gaidar in particular.

At some point, Gaidar
went to Nizhny Novgorod...

...to meet and talk to Nemtsov...

...about running for president.

We have come to the conclusion...

that Boris Nemtsov
could consolidate...

...the democratic electorate.

Nemtsov told him to shove it.

Say a couple of words
for the record.

For the record, I want to say that
I'm happy to see you.

He said, "No, Yegor, you're crazy."

The law of the pendulum shows,
as we've observed in Eastern Europe,

...that when it's Yeltsin vs. Zyuganov,
Zyuganov wins.

Even if we convince swing voters
that communists are worse,

... half of them wouldn't vote
for Yeltsin anyway.

I was in Davos...

All the oligarchs
were fighting each other.

Especially Berezovsky and Gusinsky.

An enemy of Gusinsky asked me,

"How do I find Gusinsky?"

I said, "Why?"
He said, "I have to talk to him."

So I passed it on.
They immediately got in touch.

And then a slightly amazed
Gusinsky told me,

"Berezovsky proposed a truce so that
we can join forces to support Yeltsin."

It was clear...

...that Yeltsin would stay in power,

...but how?

One group advocated using force.

Bring in the troops.

The other group
said they could win...

...without a show of force.

We thought we were choosing
the lesser of two evils.

We wrote a letter.

This group was later called
"The Banker Gang."

We told Zyuganov and Yeltsin
to stop fighting and deal...

...with social tensions, etc.

I remember clearly that everyone
said Yeltsin had to win,

...or it would be the end
of everything.

Maybe it was too bold of me -

...I'm far from politics -

...but I said, "May I offer another
point of view?

We will be worse off personally
if Zyuganov wins.

But from a historical perspective,

....perhaps it would be better
for the country?"

There would be a precedent
for voting...

...in the opposition.

That would be important for
our historical development.

I got the cold shoulder for that.

So I shut up after that.

I think if Zyuganov wins
the communists will split.

There is a chance that....

...a powerful political opposition
will be formed -

... one without infighting.

I think, within this...

...very real, possible
or even likely outcome,

...our President could take
a great step to protect Russia...

...from this sort of calamity.

I mean amending the Constitution
to restrict presidential power.

At the time I did not have...

...Boris's democratic conviction...

... to say: "Let Zyuganov win."

I think Nemtsov was right.
For Russia, Zyuganov's victory...

...would not have been tragic.

It could have moved
Russia more quickly to...

...real democracy
and the succession of power,

...in a normal, democratic,
and peaceful way.

In the first round in my region
Zyuganov and Yeltsin were tied.

Before the second round
Zyuganov came to see me.

I said, "Sure, I'll introduce you
to my team."

In the provinces,
people in your party...

....are usually eternal losers,
the kind who want revenge.

You may be a good man,
but they are like this.

I am afraid that your victory
would be tragic for the country.

Although you might be a good man.

That is why no one on this side
will vote for you.

How do you feel?

Well, compared...

...to the first days...

...after the operation, I feel fine.

Let's sit down here.

Yes, there's a breeze.

He's still very tense,
he wants to catch up.

I want him to have a bit more rest.

Chernomyrdin eventually
persuaded Yeltsin...

...to move Chubais
from Chief of Staff...

...to First Deputy Prime Minister...

...in charge of the economy.

Chubais started looking for
members for his team,

...and one of the candidates
was Nemtsov.

Chubais called Boris and
invited him to the White House.

He was the First Deputy PM
at the time.

They talked for a long time.

Chubais asked him to accept
my father's offer.

But Boris said, "No,
I have so much to do here.

We need reforms here, too."

He turned down the offer.

The idea of him joining
the Cabinet...

... was making the rounds.

There was Chubais,
Chernomyrdin and I.

Nothing was working.

Dad thought that maybe
I could talk to Boris.

We got along well.
We had a good relationship.

Although we rarely saw each other,

...we were on the same wavelength.

So Dad told me to talk to him again.

Everyone tried to dissuade me,
telling me it was suicidal.

Then Yeltsin's daughter came.

I came late in the afternoon.

Valentin Yumashev
told him I was coming.

I think Boris was shocked.

He didn't expect
the president's daughter -

...although I was also
an adviser to come...

...and try to persuade him.

She said one thing.

For four hours she tried
to persuade me.

She cried, and then she said:
"My father has always helped you.

This was true.

Now the time has come for you
to help him.'"

As a decent human being,
how could I say no?

His human decency always won.

In a politician
it's probably wrong.

In a man, especially for a friend,
it's wonderful.

I was delighted when
Boris agreed the following day.

Before she came,
Berezovsky had come,

....almost incognito, and said:
"We've decided.

We want to put you in charge."

I say: "Who's 'we'?"

"The guys - we decided.
We told Yeltsin.

He listened to us, of course.

We decided to put you in charge."

I realized then that the country
was doomed.

I said, "Boris, quit messing around.
This will end badly."

I did not see Berezovsky.

Boris said he ran away
when he heard I was coming.

That was so like Berezovsky!
If he heard something,

...he pretended to be part of it.

He told Boris to be
grateful to him...

...for the job.

Three days later...

...was that famous scene on TV.

Yeltsin said to Chubais,
"I've decided to make you...

....First Deputy Prime Minister.

Second Deputy
will be Boris Nemtsov.

And Chubais said,
"That's a great decision."

Well, Boris...

This is an interesting choice.

A dangerous one.

You are both young...

...and you'll create
a fresh new team.

Only three days earlier he had told me
that he definitely would not go.

It was a difficult time.

Oligarchs could do
whatever they wanted...

...in the Cabinet.

My colleague said that Berezovsky...

... persuaded you.
So who was it?

The president.

- Not Berezovsky or Chubais?
- The president.

What was his argument?

We talked in general about
what he thought the country needed.

There aren't many options.

Either gangster capitalism
or human capitalism.

Capitalism with a human face.

I think Yeltsin's team knew
they needed...

...a different sort of man.

One who could not be bought.

There are offers you can't refuse.

I don't know anyone who refused
what the president asked of them.

Dad thought that the Cabinet
needed new people.

From the provinces.

He always supported young,
energetic, talented people.

He believed they were the future.

Boris was the first among them.

The president is considering
a successor.

Did that play a role
in your appointment?

I think not.

It would be easier for me
to move up the political ladder...

...if I were governor.

In Moscow I'll be like a kamikaze.

The move to Moscow
ruined Boris's career.

He would have gone on to
be Yeltsin's successor in 1999..

...had he not made the move.

He joined us in Moscow in 1997.

Well, I say he joined us in Moscow
but I'd only been here for four years.

At first they didn't even
give him an apartment.

He stayed at my place.

He'd been in Moscow for a year
and still had no apartment.

So he went to Yeltsin.

Yeltsin asked him casually
where he was living.

He said, "A house in the countryside.
I still don't have an apartment."

"Why is that?" Yeltsin asked.

"Luzhkov won't give me
a residence permit."

And so, Yeltsin called Luzhkov.

He said one phrase.

"Nemtsov is sitting here with me."

On the other end Luzhkov said,
"And so...?"

"Yury, that's just petty. Petty."
And he hung up.

The very next day he got
his residence permit.

My team and my friends have forbidden
me from speaking about this.

We still have three years
before the election.

We've talked about it already.

There are almost three years left.

Why do you want to get rid of me?

Boris was never shy
with my father.

Never showed servility or fear.

I saw their relationship
during informal meetings,

...like in 1997 with the Japanese
Prime Minister.

It was clear that Yeltsin
liked Nemtsov a lot.

Yeltsin liked...

...to shake things up.

Like when he told Hashimoto,
in all seriousness,

"I delegate to Yastrzhembsky
and Nemtsov...

...the task of resolving
the Kuril Islands issue by morning."

We agreed to address
each other informally.

We using first names:
Boris and Ryu.

Tomorrow we'll hear their proposal.

Everyone left.

Boris looked horrified and said,
"We're dead."

I said, "Why?"

"We have to commit treason, go
against the Constitution."

I said, "Boris, relax.
What are you talking about?

We were given a task."

He said,
"Yes, to give the islands back."

"Who said we had to return them?

We were given the task of
finding a solution by morning.

A solution!"

Every attempt will be made

for us to be ready to sign
a peace treaty. Am I right?

"Make every attempt" isn't "sign."

It was like walking
on a hot tin roof.

SVYAZINVEST MOSCOW
SUMMER 1997

Today we will discuss
the ideas of the younger members...

....of our team.

Chubais's team was
very strong intellectually.

The strongest one we've ever had.

I kept Nemtsov...

...and talked to him.

Of course, the president
had the final say.

We need people like him.

Boris didn't go into the Cabinet...

...to play nice with everyone.

Not to speak well, to look good,
to be funny, etc.

He went to there to do serious work,
with no corruption.

To achieve institutionally
fundamental goals.

When they gave me this position,
I had a dream.

In it oil costs $15,
or better yet, $35.

Everyone gets $30,000
when they have a baby.

There's free healthcare
and education.

Kuwait 2.0

Dad had high hopes
for this Cabinet.

I'm sure he expected it would work...

...until the summer of 2000.

Until the next election.

We designed reforms
at our own risk.

Chernomyrdin protected us.

Everyone is working
as one, robust team.

That's the way it will stay.

He defended us to Yeltsin
as much as he could.

Together with the wise Chernomyrdin,
who protected them politically...

...the young guys on the new team...

...made the Cabinet very effective.

We saw it in the ratings,

...the business environment.

The public had fresh hope.

Oil prices were about $12 a barrel.

We owed state workers
about three months' salary.

The same backlog for pensions.

So a new Cabinet was formed.

The term "kamikaze" was used.
They had to carry out reforms,

...with their backs to the wall,
sacrificing their career...

...in politics,

...with total hostility
in parliament.

There was a lot of pressure.
We had a free democratic press.

TV stations...

...could say whatever they wanted and
treat anyone however they wanted.

It used to be that the state and
the people existed for the monopolies.

I think it should be
the other way around.

Or else it will all end badly.

Boris was stubborn,
too harsh sometimes.

But it was clear
that he meant business.

Chernomyrdin, who was smart,
also saw that Boris...

...was fighting for
the state's interests.

I remember well, it was Nemtsov
who was against the sale...

...of the controlling stake
in Gazprom.

That was a tough fight.

He was First Deputy PM
and Minister of Energy.

He was in charge of the most
difficult sector,

...the biggest payer
into the state budget,

...although less than it is today.

Boris was such a vivid personality.
He couldn't be just average.

He always lit up a room.

We decided to sell SvyazInvest
above-board.

The biggest telecom company.

The story of SvyazInvest is simply...

...the most important event
of the 1990s.

One fine day Chubais
woke up in a good mood.

He decided that from that day on
business would follow new rules.

Not the ones it followed before.

Those rules were foul, morally bankrupt,
but well-established.

They demanded that we
sell the company to the group...

...formed by Gusinsky
and headed by Telefonica.

We thought we should sell it
to the highest bidder.

What was my position?

There'd been certain rules of the game
before the guys arrived.

Everyone obeyed these rules,
and business did its part...

...and followed them.

Then they come and say:
"No more rules, we start over.

We need honest competition."

I said to Boris and Anatoly,
"What will happen...

...when Gusinsky loses?"

He's been building
this largely useless SvyazInvest...

...for three years.
He put in a lot of effort.

In a month the young reformers
will be gone.

According to agreements worked out
over the course of a number of years,

...men who had taken big risks...

...had priority during privatization
of large sectors of the economy.

It's not right. I completely agree.
But that was the agreement.

Everyone agreed that rules
can be changed.

Let's get
all the businessmen together.

Yeltsin will take part if needed.
If not, it will be the three of us.

We should say,
"This will be the last tender."

Anyone who breaks the rules
after this will be destroyed...

...by the business community.

But I couldn't stop these two.

Boris was the emotional leader.

Was it the right idea?
Theoretically speaking, sure.

Was it right to start
with SvyazInvest?

Tactically-speaking, it probably
wasn't the wisest choice.

Although I think it was
a just and lawful decision.

The private owners of the largest
TV companies, NTV and ORT,

...wanted to acquire a quarter of all
the Russian telecom systems.

Since the Cabinet decided there would be
no more free privatization,

...and no more crony privatization -

...the highest bidder wins.
And another company won.

They offered more
than 10 trillion rubles.

The others lost
because they bid less.

But since they wanted things
to stay the same,

...they couldn't accept it.

Yes, Potanin made a larger offer.

Because Gusinsky couldn't
persuade Spanish Telefonica...

...to bid higher.

They lost fair and square.

SvyazInvest was
the first fair tender.

There was fierce competition.

There was hysteria and scandal around it
because it was the first honest deal.

It brought a huge sum
into the state budget.

Actually, Gusinsky and Berezovsky
chose SvyazInvest simply because...

...they wanted to see if we would
roll over for them or not.

Chubais decided...

...that it was our chance to
show that we wouldn't.

For Chubais and Nemtsov...

...it was a matter of principle.

I don't idealize them,
but there were things...

...that made them very different
from today's rulers.

They wouldn't...

...compromise over everything.

When Berezovsky and Gusinsky
became opponents of the Cabinet,

...their TV channels also turned
against us and...

... the president, too -

... the whole executive branch.

The atmosphere was bad.

I think it was a tragic mistake
by Chubais, our leader.

And by Boris, who was responsible
for this particular question.

Very few people understood
what was happening,

...and the extent to which
it harmed the country.

If it weren't for SvyazInvest,
the country would be different today.

I took part in the information war
against Chubais and Co.

As you know, that war was won.

It was clear to me that
after this we were done for.

BATTLE AGAINST THE OLIGARCHS
AUTUMN 1997

Strippers bared themselves
in front of Nemtsov and Potanin...

...on a specially constructed podium
over the pool.

Our colleague has obtained
footage that shows...

...Nemtsov frolicking with the ladies.

Neither the ladies nor Nemtsov
are clothed.

If you have questions, problems,
talk about them, solve them.

Just don't sling mud at each other
through the press.

Yeltsin saw this and felt it, and
he tried to reconcile everyone.

But he didn't get anywhere.

It was impossible to imagine
closing down two TV channels.

Before Putin finally dealt with them,
Berezovsky and Gusinsky...

...believed that the government
functioned for big business.

"Whatever we say, goes."

When we told them that
we wouldn't take orders,

...they told us they'd get rid of us
and replace us with people who would.

Boris started a war with them.

So they made him a target.

The super-professional NTV channel...

...turned Boris into Enemy No. 1.

What I remember best are his white pants
when he met Aliyev at the airport...

...and the famous failed campaign
to make officials switch cars -

...from Mercedes to Russian Volgas.

There was a smear campaign.

We all know the story
of the white pants.

He wore white pants and they acted like
it was the end of the world.

With the Volgas - Boris came
and said, "Why do we all have Mercedes?

Let's make everyone use Volgas."

Of course,
he was from Nizhny Novgorod.

He wanted to give work to his local car
factory and workers.

As for Nemtsov, I don't think
he has even the slightest chance...

...of becoming president.

I say this after observing him...

...since he moved to Moscow.

He looked a lot better from afar.

He is not ready, at least not yet,
for the responsibilities that...

...the president of
a huge country has.

The campaign against him
ran on the channels controlled...

...by Berezovsky and Gusinsky.

It was impossible to make things up
about Boris.

And yet, every day
they slung mud at him.

They said he was ineffective,
that he harmed this or that,

...and that all the useless young
reformers should be fired immediately.

Yeltsin's feelings towards
the Cabinet soured.

He was aggravated that he was
running out of options...

...on how to defend the men
he had hired and vouched for.

Once Yeltsin told me,
"I am tired of defending you all."

I said, "You don't have to
defend me. I'm a grown man.

If you think you need to
sacrifice something, then don't. "

Dad did everything he could
in that situation.

For him,

...the freedom of the press was
very important. He fought for it.

He thought it was
one of the achievements...

...of Russia's young democracy.

Are you worried about the increase
in attacks in the press...

...on First Deputy PM Nemtsov?

I am a little worried,

...but I now know where
it's coming from.

I can't say I'm not worried.
They were my protégés.

But now we've made a deal.
There will be no more pressure.

It was a huge story at the time.

Nemtsov and Chubais
went to Yelstin...

...and persuaded him...

....that Boris Berezovsky,
a businessman and a citizen of Israel,

... essentially headed
the Security Council.

It was outrageous.

What killed my chance
to be the next president...

...was my firm decision
to remove Berezovsky from his position.

Yeltsin had a choice:
either me or Berezovsky.

"I won't work with him."

He said, "Don't give me
an ultimatum.

Where is the decision
on Berezovsky?"

I handed it to him.

He took a pen and paper,
he crossed out the word "Decree."

My hair stood on end.
I said, "What are you doing?"

He said, "Why should
I fire Berezovsky by decree?'"

"What do you mean - why?"

"Who the hell is he to get
a presidential decree?

I'll write a directive
to fire him, is that okay?'"

And he starts writing: "Directive."

And signs it. It was quite comical.

When I took this paper
to Chernomyrdin,

...he said: "Are you nuts?"

He threw me out.
I said: "Right, I got it."

When it reached a boiling point,

...he talked to me,
because I knew PR.

"We have to hold
a press conference...

...to announce a battle
against the oligarchs."

This topic is urgent.

In a year it might be too late.

I was astonished.

I knew how Yeltsin won in 1996.

He was entangled
with the oligarchs.

It was the price
of his re-election.

But that was Boris.

I told him it was dangerous.

He just declared economic war
between the state...

...and the oligarchs.

That was Boris Nemtsov.

After that I couldn't get on TV.
There was a big campaign against me...

... with Dorenko.

"He did not give Gazprom to Berezovsky.
He didn't give them SvyazInvest.

He had Berezovsky fired.
What a guy, right!"

At a certain point
everyone noticed...

...that Nemtsov's ratings
stopped rising.

They began to fall
for no apparent reason.

WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR
IF THE ELECTION WAS THIS SUNDAY?

Mayor Luzhkov overtook Nemtsov
and is now in second place.

I am guilty. I treated him badly.

Later we talked about it.

I started taking note
in every show...

...of how much his rating
fell during that week.

I got millions of my viewers
to speculate on his downfall.

This harmed Boris immensely
as a politician.

It was evident in his ratings,

which were shown on
Kiselyov's show.

I remember they put a red X
on father's photo.

After a month of government crisis,
the career of Nemtsov...

....as a potential candidate
for president of Russia...

... can be crossed off.

He would always say, "Remember
how you put a red X on me?

That was funny."

Someone else might have
held a grudge forever.

When this crisis arose,

...the elite fell apart

...and we understood then -
and can see now -

...the huge role played by TV
in propaganda.

Why didn't Boris and Anatoly
realize what I saw?

I don't know.

People have short-term goals.

The men who did this
couldn't imagine,

... that by winning and punishing...

... Chubais and Nemtsov,
they just hurt themselves.

We paid the pensions.

We dramatically cut down
theft from the state budget.

We were able to save
tens of trillions of rubles.

And we were able to halt
economic recession.

We badly needed funds
to plug the holes in the budget.

At the very end of 1997
Chubais reported to Yeltsin...

...that we'd paid everything we owed
in salaries.

But it was already clear that
the Asian financial crisis had begun,

...and that our success would
be wiped out very soon.

Everyone knows about the president's
decision to dismiss the Cabinet.

Sergei Kiriyenko was made PM.

It was to get the Duma...

...to ratify him.

Why do I remember this?

Because it was a difficult time
for Boris.

Kiriyenko was also from Nizhny.
He headed a bank...

...when Nemtsov was governor.

He was one of the people who had sat
and waited outside his office.

The president cannot disregard
public opinion.

There was pressure from the Duma
and on TV.

Yeltsin didn't watch TV,
but everyone else did.

For Yeltsin,

Boris remained a close associate.

And he thought of him
as a candidate.

But after...

...all the TV attacks...

...on the Cabinet
and him in particular,

...it was clear that he had
no chance...

...of being ratified by the Duma.
So Yeltsin eventually chose Kiriyenko.

We need to make the system work,

...to make it function...

...effectively.

I remember asking him,

"How do you feel now that
Kiriyenko is the head of Cabinet?"

He said, "You know,
it's a temporary solution."

But it wasn't temporary.

Kiriyenko was a much more acceptable
figure for them than Nemtsov.

- Do you know? Have you heard?
- You know already?

They say that your previously
stable position in Cabinet...

...is now shaky.

They've been saying that since
March 17, 1997.

They say the same thing every day.

It's worse. Now it's really worse.

It's very bad, it's lousy,
you're not in the Cabinet anymore.

You don't exist anymore,
you've been crossed off every list.

At some point there was
so much criticism -

...so much one-sided criticism,

...that tension in society reached
the point when Dad had no choice.

In order...

...to protect his own power, I
think, he sacrificed Nemtsov.

In this sense he proved to be
a more rational and pragmatic...

...and successful politician
than Nemtsov.

The so-called reforms have brought
our society to a dead-end.

1998. Miners were banging
their hard hats...

...right next to the White House.
I went down to them.

We talked, sometimes even drank.
They demanded our resignation.

We did not send in the riot police,
although we could have.

They paralysed road traffic,
blocked the railways.

And they were destroying
the Russian economy.

Nothing would have worked out,
if we weren't in dialogue...

...with these men,
who had suffered greatly.

We were simply open.

You went down into the mine.

What are your impressions
of what you saw underground?

What kind of work is it?

My impression was awful.

I don't know if a manager in Moscow
or a journalist...

...could stand it for more
than a day.

We don't want
these people in power anymore!

Then came the August default, which
ended with the Cabinet's resignation.

If they had named Jesus Christ
as Russian PM in March 1998 -

...maybe not in August -
but in September or October...

... even with His limitless power,

...the same thing
would have happened.

Boris didn't take part
in the decision...

...on the default.

It was a sign
that he wasn't trusted.

He was a very visible politician
who would have fought the decision.

Everyone already knew
that the decision had been made.

They would default
on their obligations.

Kiriyenko knew.

Khodorkovsky came when he learned
that this decision was about to be made,

...but it was too late.

Yeltsin insisted that Primakov
offer a ministerial position to Nemtsov.

But Boris refused to work
in Primakov's government.

He realized that he needed...

...to work on his career.

Otherwise, he wouldn't go far.

He'd lost trust.

So he started preparing
to become a Duma deputy.

I think Russia must elect
a new president.

He has to be honest,
healthy, responsible.

I'm convinced that the new president
should be Vladimir Putin.

If certain well-known people
don't undermine and restrict him,

...he has every chance
of getting the people's vote.

I will support him, in any case.

The decision...

...to run for president...

...on June 4, 2000...

...has been made.

I knew he was Sobchak's assistant and
that he faithfully served Yelstin.

I knew he went to
Berezovsky's birthday parties.

I recall he'd tried to dissuade me
from fighting the oligarchs,

...in particular Gusinsky and Berezovsky,
when we had the SvyazInvest auction.

He told me they were the power
and we were nobodies.

I remember the 1991 coup,

...the crowds on the square
in St. Petersburg,

...and Sobchak telling them
that the USSR was about to fall apart.

That we were democratic Russia.

And next to him stood Putin,
clearly thrilled...

...helping his patron
foment revolution.

And his face did not betray
that this was the moment...

...of the greatest
geopolitical catastrophe.

He was thrilled.
You can't fake that.

I saw it with my own eyes.

When the question
of who would lead the FSB arose,

...Chubais actively lobbied
for Putin.

I asked him why, because
I didn't know Putin.

He said, "He's our man."

Freedom of speech, of faith,
freedom of the press, of thought,

...the right to private property - these
basic elements of civilized society...

...will be protected by the state.

The country had to choose
between the old KGB man Primakov...

...and the new KGB man Putin.

That was our choice in the tenth year
of democracy building.

The Duma elections of 1999
were extremely important for...

...Nemtsov's fate in politics.

He returned to big politics...

...as one of the leaders of parliament.

The Union of Right Forces,
which he headed...

...with Kiriyenko and Hakamada,
ran with the slogan:

"Putin for president,
Kiriyenko for the Duma."

We went around the country,
from Yaroslavl to Irkutsk.

A giant country with
fantastic possibilities.

Wonderful young people.

Gaidar, Nemtsov, and Sysuyev -
we decided to try to form a coalition...

...and get into the parliament.

Then we went to Tatyana Dyachenko,

...who liked the idea.

The centre of it was Chubais,
in the President's administration.

Sysuyev coordinated everything.
And there was Nemtsov.

The two leaders were
Chubais and Nemtsov.

Our base is not just young people.

It's independent people,
and women, too, to be honest.

And smart people.

Boris ran a brilliant campaign.

He had political experience.
It was easy for him to talk to people,

...to common people.
He enjoyed talking.

After he left the Cabinet,
he was even more in his element.

The Third Duma was being elected
when Nemtsov was Putin's ally.

Look at me more closely.
You still want me to answer?

- Yes.
- That hurts.

If anyone thinks that our party
is in the Kremlin's pocket,

...they are mistaken.

If the Kremlin does something wrong,
we'll oppose them. And vice versa:

If they make wise choices,
we'll support them.

Since we believe in Yeltsin,
and he decided that Putin...

...was effective
and a good Prime Minister,

...then let's put Kiriyenko in the Duma
and make Putin president.

Putin as President.

It was a project
of the Union of Right Forces.

They really wanted it,
and they really worked for it.

And in the end they got it.

And that's where our paths
diverged once and for all.

These teenagers don't vote.

It's OK. They don't vote now.
But they'll vote in the 21st century...

...the right way.

We supported the Union
because we thought it was...

...the correct and legal form
to protect the interests of business.

By then 15-20 percent of people...

...knew what the market was -

...how important it was to make
the market stronger,

...that without...

...this party the Duma would be odd.

It would not represent
a huge segment of society.

Boris's strong point, what made him
the leader of this faction,

...was his good relations
with businesspeople.

They know people's worth,

...especially the people
who'd already been in power.

I think he had a good reputation
with them.

Everyone knew that as governor
he never took bribes.

At least to my knowledge.

The same goes for when
he was the Deputy PM.

Four months before the election
our rating was 1 percent.

The experts said we had no chance.

We took third place...

...with 8.5 percent.

More than five million people
voted for us.

We positioned ourselves as
the party of the middle class -

...a liberal party, with a
program of economic policies,

...but socially-oriented.
This came from the regions.

From Nemtsov.

As a former governor,

...he was never a pure monetarist.

This wasn't senseless populism,
and we didn't want to lie.

We respected people
and knew that without them,

...Russia would not survive.

Citizens needed to be part of the
reforms and like them.

Nemtsov thought at the time
that Putin was a reformer.

That he would continue
market reforms:

...lowering taxes, privatization,
integration with the West.

As for the fact that he wasn't
a democrat - maybe that wasn't so bad.

Our work together when
Boris was in the Duma

...and I was Prime Minister were key

...to passing any law on reforms.

We've been in parliament
since 2003.

Before then, we passed
very liberal tax laws.

We have very low taxes.
Our income tax is 13 percent.

We passed a key
law on land ownership.

Our financial decisions
stabilized the ruble.

Of course, there was opposition.
But we passed these laws.

Putin met with him very often,
since he was the leader of a faction.

He was a public figure,
Yeltsin's favourite.

Putin knew then that he had practically
been made by Yeltsin, too.

So they treated each other
with respect.

Sometimes they got angry
with one another,

...when voting should have
gone differently.

Their relationship
was more than friendly.

Boris never held anyone
at a distance.

It was the same with Putin.

They were on a first-name basis.

They could talk about anything.

Nemtsov initially tried
to work with Putin,

...since his party had contributed
to his election.

But their points of contact
and collaboration drifted

...further and further apart.

Nemtsov is
in the peanut gallery today.

I'm sitting with
the best journalists from NTV.

- And pretty women.
- As always.

I don't like the name of your show:
"Russia Without NTV."

And for some reason
everyone is okay with it.

- There's a question mark there.
- No, there's an exclamation mark.

In the spring of 2001,

...it was the final stage
of the fight for NTV...

...and its future ownership...

...whether it would remain under
the ownership of Gusinsky...

...or move under state control.

Formally it would be owned
by Gazprom, but it was clear...

...that behind Gazprom
stood the Kremlin and Putin.

Nemtsov's position was two-sided.

He was actively involved.

On the one hand,

...he was friends with many
key players on the other side.

On the other hand, Boris was friendly
with me, with Svetlana Sorokina,

...with other journalists.

It's bad when journalists are
friendly with politicians.

But Boris was an exception.

All the journalists
were friends with him.

The departure of journalists,
including those sitting next to me -

... is that good or bad for the country?
It's just awful!

He was torn in two.
He wanted to help us.

There are two basic rights
that our party defends.

We defend freedom
and private property.

When these values collide,
as was the case with NTV,

...it's hard to say what's
more important for us.

To defend property?
Or freedom of speech?

Both are important to us.

Boris was very naïve.

How could you touch a channel that had
a U.S. citizen as a director?

It would put relations between
Moscow and Washington at risk!

I think you made a mistake.

You should have invited Boris Jordan
and Alfred Koch here.

NTV always showed all the sides.

We still have time to call them.

But who will call whom?

It was not a stupid decision
by the administration...

...to make Jordan the director or
head of crisis management.

He is a US citizen.

I can't imagine the US
shouting about Russia stifling...

...freedom of speech
when a U.S. citizen...

...is the formal
or an informal head.

But they chewed up that U.S. citizen
and spat him out.

And when they fired him, they used
his citizenship against him.

What was the main lesson of the
destruction of NTV?

It was the first case...

...of how they would always,
throughout society,

...choose a victim.

And then mercilessly destroy him.

I have one personal story
that characterizes Putin...

...and explains why I went
into the opposition.

It is the story of "Nord-Ost."

I was head
of the Duma faction then.

We were there.

I negotiated with the terrorists,

...to get them
to release the hostages:

...women, children,
and old people first.

Half an hour later
Yastrzhembsky called me.

He asked me to come and help.

Then Nemtsov called
and asked where I was going.

I said, "To the HQ.

I'm on some list
to conduct negotiations."

He said: "I'll be right there."

We agreed that for each day of truce
in Chechnya they would release hostages.

We decided, based on this
phone conversation...

...that I would go in to negotiate.

Then Putin called and said,

"Anyone can negotiate
but you or Luzhkov.

I'm the head of the state,
it's a state of emergency.

I'm asking you.
I'll explain later."

We have great hope
that they will be released.

It's very important.

Then Chubais called and said,

"The boss doesn't want you
to go there."

I said, "There are more
than 900 people."

Then Chubais called
and said the same thing:

"Don't go." No explanation.

And it was one of my worst mistakes:
I agreed not to go.

They used some secret gas,

...people feel asleep
and then the special ops unit...

...went in and killed the terrorists.

But 130 people died.

I asked Voloshin,
the Chief of Staff,

...why Putin asked the two of us
to stay away?

The answer just killed me.

"Because he was afraid
your ratings would go up.

He was watching your ratings,
and they were rising."

Everything started
to collapse after that.

As Duma deputies we decided
to find out what happened.

The gas wasn't dangerous.
It just put people to sleep.

The hostages were not poisoned.

But they were
evacuated incorrectly.

They all died of asphyxiation...

...during their evacuation.

The article on criminal negligence
and an article that's rarely used -

...it's on non-disclosure
of information that leads to harm...

...including death.

There was no information
about the gas.

I told Putin: "These people
could have been saved.

We must file a criminal case
against the evacuation team.

And prosecute them
for criminal negligence."

He said, "Why?"

I said, "So that it doesn't
happen again next time."

And he said, "These people
are already dead.

It won't bring them back."

We can't make these rulings.

But if they are made by
the Attorney General's Office,

...by the leadership,

...it will save dozens of lives.

That's why we're doing this.

After meeting with the president,
did you have a feeling it might happen?

No.

No, I did not.

There were four episodes
that formed my opinion of Putin.

The first one was in 2000...

...when the Kursk submarine
went down,

...the men inside were dying,
and Putin was sunbathing in Sochi.

The second one was in 2002 -
the "Nord-Ost" tragedy.

The third episode was Khodorkovsky.
October 2003.

The fourth one was in 2004,
when troops fired on the Beslan school...

...from grenade launchers and tanks.
More than 300 people died.

At the time of the 2003 campaign
we were all at odds.

I told Chubais, "No more games."

We were hoping Vladimir Putin...

...was the man who would
move things forward.

But now it looks like it's time
to join the opposition.

With all due respect for Putin,
the way he was then.

He looked at me very seriously
but didn't say a word in response.

Boris agreed that the Union
of Right Forces would lose.

The impetus
for the pace of reforms...

...began to decline in 2003.

You could say it began
with a meeting...

...of big business in the Kremlin
in February,

...when the conflict
with Khodorkovsky began.

We all sensed the pressure Putin began
to put on the business community.

They began their campaign as a party
that supported the administration.

Then a month before the end
they suddenly decided to change...

...all their rhetoric
to criticism of Putin.

Everything was going fine.

We needed to get over
the five-percent threshold.

We had a media program
that we had already paid for.

We'd paid for all the materials
and all the airtime.

Everything was lined up.

And then at the end of October
they arrested Khodorkovsky.

Mr. Khodorkovsky remains in custody.

His lawyers lodged an appeal,
a motion for release on bail,

...and a list of more than 40 people
to vouch for him personally,

...including Nemtsov and Yavlinsky.

They arrested Khorodkovsky.

Chubais made his famous
appeal to Putin:

The state has to tell us
why they are doing it.

What are the grounds for it?

Chubais was very emotional.

Putin reined him in.

From then on we always
supported Khodorkovsky.

This was accompanied by
a split in our ideological façade.

Chubais continued
to work for Putin.

Gaidar continued to work
for the Cabinet.

Nemtsov and I were in opposition.

After this I got a call
from Minister Lesin,

...then from Ernst, Kulistikov,
and Dobrodeyev.

They all announced that
all of our plans,

...all of our TV appearances,

...all of the interviews
we had lined up,

...including our participation
in a game show...

...and "While Everyone's Home"
with Chubais -

...all of it would be cancelled.

They threw us off the air
for a month and a half.

They should've had a positive program:
support for business, lowering of taxes,

...to form a Duma faction
and criticize Putin

...from that position.
They did the exact opposite.

This campaign went into
textbooks on political science...

....as an example of what not to do.

There was a famous ad
of them in a Gulfstream super jet...

...sitting on white leather sofas.

These glamorous hipsters sat there,

...while in the country it's winter,
it's cold, people are living in poverty.

And these devils on their white sofa
said things like "Vote for us."

Russia has millions of modern,
smart, and competent people.

Only people like this - educated
and sober, free and ambitious -

...will lead Russia to success.

Choose your future.
The Union of Right Forces.

They lived in this circle of young,

...educated,

...intellectual, modern...

...people.

But they didn't stop to realize...

...that Russia was completely different.

We'd love for it to be like them -
educated, intellectual, European -

...but it's totally different.

We knew that
in a managed democracy...

...it's hard to oppose
authoritarian tendencies.

But it's true.

They think people
are completely stupid.

Their party supported this regime.
They created it -

...first financially, then politically.

Then they elected Putin president,

...and Kiriyenko was in the Duma.

Then the regime dumped them.

It slowly built its own
authoritarian system.

I realized that they wouldn't
get the votes...

...because Russia lived in
a different dimension.

These may be obvious things,
but they are true all the same.

They didn't really understand
what Russia needed.

I think that was the key issue
for the Union of Right Forces.

Of course, it was hard for Boris.

But he had a wonderful personality.

He was different as a politician
and as a man.

He would wake up
a couple of days later, well-rested.

He would go to dinner with friends,
meet another pretty girl.

And he felt much better.

In 2004-08 Russia experienced
a consumer paradise.

Over its 1,000-year history...

...the Russian people
had never lived so well.

Hence Putin's fantastic ratings.

Politics became unfashionable.

Surkov was in charge
of domestic affairs then.

He did a very simple thing.

He saw that no one was interested
in politics. So he just liquidated it.

ORANGE REVOLUTION IN KIEV
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2004.

We need a free
and democratic Ukraine.

We need a free
and democratic Russia.

Only together we will be
prosperous and happy.

Today we must fight not
only for your freedom,

...but for ours.

I remember bringing
Boris to Maidan.

We were walking to the podium
and he said,

"Can I go out to the people?"

They were a few meters
from the stage.

"Can I go?" "Sure."

Everyone on Maidan loved him.

A real politician comes to them.

And they can talk to him
face-to-face.

We can show that we are two nations
that can still be democratic...

...and European
with high living standards.

This appealed to the people
tremendously.

They absolutely adored him
on Maidan.

That was obvious.

He came back to Moscow
a changed man.

He was captivated
by the revolutionary spirit.

He'd wanted to retreat
into private life, to make money.

Like he'd done everything
he could in politics...

...and now he needed to think
about his family and kids.

This 2004 revolution
changed all his plans.

Very few people in Russia...

...are ready to risk their freedom
and their well-being.

This is due to our tragic history.

I mean the Civil War, the GULAG,
the repressions, communism.

But I don't really...

...have a choice.

I am on a path
and there's no escaping.

As soon as he lost everything,
he was out on the street.

He realized there was no going back...

...and decided to go into opposition.

He was always emotional.
He moved directly, straightforwardly.

Plus, he held a grudge
because of "Nord-Ost."

There were nasty rumours
about him from the Kremlin.

He thought
they came from the president.

And the was an element
of competition underneath.

If Yeltsin had chosen me,

...things would have be different.

I was his close friend.

At least at that time
we saw each other a lot.

He appealed to me as his friend:

"I've lost my job,
and you have a huge business.

Can't you hire me so I could
make a living somehow?"

I was very blunt with him.

I told him that he had to change,

...and I didn't believe that
for a second.

Knowing him,
it was out of the question.

He was destined to go to Maidan
and to make his speeches.

That was clear from the beginning.

I said, "Boris, you are going
to continue with politics.

I know you. You won't be able
to keep your mouth shut.

You are going to speak your mind.

But this will harm my work.
I can't afford it."

Boris always took things well.

He knew I was right.

So he didn't take offence.

We spent the night together in a cell.

We talked all night long.

This must have been
my longest talk with him.

I saw him as a man of the '90s -
a good man,

...and yet someone
who brings political trouble.

He felt bad about it all.

The only '90s politician...

...who really was an honest man.

He was relatively young.

But all these negative things
had stuck to him.

I said, "Boris, it's a problem,
You're a good man.

You understand everything.
But the '90s are a liability."

How he met someone
wearing white pants...

...the privatization that he
didn't take part in,

...but everyone accused him of it.

He was blamed for all the horrors
and problems of Yeltsin's team.

He was the symbol of it all.

I said, "Let's do something
about it."

But he already knew
that it was impossible.

Each era has its leaders.

He understood when we
didn't put him in our top three.

Because he would have been a target.

He was fine with it.

For instance, when I ran
for mayor of Moscow,

...I didn't want him to come
and support me...

...because it would bring
more trouble than good.

I knew that if I kept
being friends with him like before,

...before his strident opposition
to the authorities,

...no one would believe
that I wasn't giving him...

...financial support,

...or involved in politics with him.

Our continuing friendship
would be toxic for my business,

...for my partners and colleagues.

I told him that.
He knew it, too.

He knew I couldn't risk it.

Unfortunately, this led
to spending much less time...

...than I could
with a man who was smart,

...decent, honest,
interesting, and a friend.

I had no idea
that he had so little time left.

I bitterly regret this, of course.

It is one
of my greatest disappointments.

I sometimes told him:
"Boris, you are like an Eskimo.

You say what you see.
You are not a politician.

A politician says what
others want to hear.

And in a way, that's also
a form of professionalism.

What you are
is a human rights activist.

Politics is the art of compromise.

And you are uncompromising.

If you are convinced of something,

...you won't make a deal.

Everyone loved Boris.
Because he was free.

He wasn't afraid of anything or anyone.
It was very appealing.

I was initially sceptical
about Nemtsov.

I'd been in the Yabloko party,

...which had a conflict
with the Union of Right Forces.

Then I started having problems
in the party.

And Nemtsov amazed me
by suddenly calling me.

"This is Nemtsov.
What's going on?

Are they really going to expel you?
How can I help you?"

I was so amazed that
a man I don't know at all...

...called to ask how I was doing
and offer his help.

He treated everyone the same way.

He could pick up the phone
and call an activist in Krasnodar,

...or in the Komi Republic and say,
"How are you doing?

I read on Twitter
that there's pressure on you.

How can I help?"

He told me all the time,
with a sort of regret,

"I know I will never be president.

I won't run, so I'm ready to help.

ARREST
DECEMBER 31, 2010

Happy New Year without Putin!

In 2010 on December 31
there was a protest rally...

...in support of Article 31
of the Constitution...

...on the freedom of assembly.

And we got divorced that day, too.

We all went: me, Zhanna, and Boris.

I usually celebrate New Year's...

...with salads, champagne
and my family...

They had a permit to demonstrate.

It's almost midnight.

But a year ago
an important event occurred.

Lyudmila Alekseyeva went out
on this same square a year ago.

A huge group of special ops officers,
like the ones around us now,

...twisted her arms
and pushed into a police bus.

She was 82 years old.

She had her arms twisted
and she was pushed into a police bus.

After that, we had to come here.

I am grateful to all of you
for coming here. It's a serious deed.

You didn't come here for yourself.

You came so that
our country could be free.

We insisted on our right
to freedom of assembly.

The authorities wanted
to restrict that right.

Russia deserves better, my friends.

Why do we want to gather here,
on New Year's Eve?

Because we think that
the crooked, despicable authorities...

...must be thrown the hell out,
cast into the dustbin of history.

The rally was authorized.
There were no violations.

We demand the cessation
of censorship.

We demand fair elections.

We want both the left and the right,

...both patriots and centrists,

...everyone representing the citizens
of our vast country...

...could convene in the Duma
and solve our common problems.

Boris and I left the stage
and walked together towards Tverskaya.

This is my oldest daughter.
She's here for the first time.

Suddenly, out of nowhere,

...there's a crowd of
special police units.

Move away from the road.

I was just shocked.
I shouted, "Boris!"

They just surrounded Boris.

We were suddenly grabbed
and brutally pushed...

...into police buses
and driven to different precincts.

He spent the New Year
in a concrete cell.

Right away, for some reason,
he was isolated from the others.

They put him in a windowless cell.

I got bed linen, but he didn't.

He really was mistreated.

We met in a couple of days,

...because the court was closed
for the holidays.

After two days he didn't look well.

He was pale, clearly tired.

His back ached because
he had slept on the concrete floor...

...for two nights.

I can walk myself.

They put a guy with TB
in the bed next to him.

He coughed right next to him
for half of his detention period.

Many were surprised
that you were not given a chair...

...for the five-hour hearing
with Judge Borovkova.

Did that really happen?
They just didn't give you a chair?

And you stood for five hours?

I spent 40 hours in that cell.

I couldn't sleep properly
in there to be honest.

I hoped that when I got to court,
I'd at least be able to take a load off.

I was wrong.

At the very beginning my attorney
said the defendant needed a chair.

She said there were too many people.

"There will be no chair.
Let him stand."

I visited his detention cell
a day or two later.

I brought some newspapers, fruit,

...and thick woollen socks.

He was very grateful
because it was cold.

Our cell - or pad, as they call it,
was a room...

...about 40 square meters.

There were between three
and 15 people in it.

You could smoke, so it was
filled with bluish smoke.

There's no mirror,
and the toilet is right there.

I said to the guy in charge,
"How about some dignity?

Let's put a partition there
so that everyone doesn't have to...

...witness the scatological processes."

It was a rare occasion.

After his arrest...

...he shared his impressions with me...

...and he was genuinely sad...

...about what he'd gone through.

He could take a punch. He didn't
want to go to jail, of course.

He thought he'd die there.
He had health issues.

He always said, "If they put me away
for five or ten years,

...I won't survive like Khodorkovsky.
They'll kill me in there."

It was a sensation.

He was a former Deputy Prime Minister.

He's nearly been
the president's successor, after all.

As he liked to say,
"I was Putin's boss."

There was a funny story.

They were the two Cabinet members
who were always late for meetings.

Putin is famous for being late.
Nemtsov was, too.

They would always try to outrun
each other in the corridor,

...because Yeltsin would scold
whoever was the last to arrive.

He told us how he'd helped Putin
get an apartment for FSB officers.

They had a good relationship.

They lived near each another.

As he explained,

...he was a man from the system.
So they understood him.

They don't like him.

But within their system of values,
there are untouchables.

A former minister
is someone you can't touch.

You can throw a toilet on his car.

You can discredit him
and say bad things.

But you can't jail him.

You can't hit him,
and you can't kill him.

I met him when he was released.
There were journalists there, too.

They wanted to scare me,
they wanted to put pressure on me.

You know, being put
into a cell with stone walls...

...on New Year's Eve -
it's a scare tactic.

But they didn't scare me.
They didn't break me.

I feel feisty.

We went to a café.

He didn't feel well.
We wanted to have dinner.

When we were leaving...

...some young Nashi activists
tried to catch him with a butterfly net.

It was their favourite trick.

But they couldn't
Father's reactions were too quick.

I wanted to run after them,
but it was too icy and they got away.

In Putin's Russia, laws don't work.

To be in the opposition means
to put your life, your freedom...

...the lives of your loved ones
at risk.

Of course, I don't want to die.
But there is no risk of being killed.

I was sure, though, that I'd face...

...criminal or political prosecution.
And I was right.

It was the live call-in show
that Putin likes so much.

He said, "I have a question here.

What do you think about Nemtsov,
Ryzhkov, and that gang?

What do Nemtsov, Ryzhkov, Milov
and their gang want?"

Money and power, what else?

He said, "They were racketeers
in the 1990s.

They stole billions with Berezovsky...

...and now they're trying
to get back in power."

They were racketeers in the 1990s.

They stole billions...

...together with those Berezovskys
and the others in prison now.

Their illegal money supply was cut off.
Now they've spent their money.

They want to come back
and fill their pockets again.

He named three people:
me, Nemtsov, and Milov.

Milov couldn't have stolen money -
he was still in school.

Nemtsov and I also
didn't steal money with Berezovsky.

Nemtsov was against Berezovsky
and the privatization of SvyazInvest.

Berezovsky was one of the ones
who smeared Nemtsov.

To accuse Nemtsov of racketeering
with Berezovsky was ludicrous.

But if we let them,

...they wouldn't be satisfied
with billions.

They'd sell off all of Russia.

We filed a lawsuit against Putin...

...to defend the honour and dignity
of Ryzhkov, Nemtsov, and Milov.

Do you know how his lawyer
got him off the hook?

She said that when Putin
said our names,

...he didn't mean real people.

He used them as lower-case common
nouns - the ryzhkovs and nemtsovs.

Since they were symbolic,
there was no slander.

And the judge said,
"OK, if there isn't, there isn't."

If you got Putin alone
somewhere quiet...

...and poured him a drink
and asked why he did it...

...he'd say, "Oh, stop it.
Of course I know...

...that Boris is an honest man who
has never stolen a thing.

I know this better than anyone."

What should we do?

First - tell people the truth
of who they are.

We did this in samizdat,
Russian self-publishing:

"The Putin Report. The Results."
We published a million copies.

They confiscated the books.

They checked it
for extremism many times.

They didn't find anything.

The second thing.
Putin's Russia is not a place for talk.

The only effective politics
is done on the street.

No one has said it better
than Pushkin:

"While freedom's flame within us lives,
While we by honour's voice are guided,

To Russia, comrade, let us give
Our spirits whole and undivided.

Dear friend, have faith:
the wakeful skies

Presage a dawn of wonder - Russia

Shall from her age-old sleep arise,
(though everyone believes the opposite)

And despotism impatient crushing,
Upon its ruins our names incise!"

Because political life didn't exist,

...he had to join the picket line...

...with slogans and banners...

...including rallies without permits.

We have lots of footage of Nemtsov
being detained by the police -

...loading him on paddy wagons.

Boris being released after 15 days
behind bars.

Boris being attacked by Nashi youth.

Someone throwing a toilet
onto his car.

Someone spraying ammonia in his face.

And all that.

When you're involved in protest,
you don't see revolutionary romanticism.

You see broken lives.

You see your comrades
killed or put in jail.

It became clear...

...that he'd be the dissident,
like usual.

You have to bring three shirts.

The first one will be hit
by rotten eggs,

...the second by tomatoes.

You make it to the press conference
in the third shirt.

Say that you love Putin.

I love Putin, and I love Medvedev.

Now tell me how much
you love them for.

They are hooligans: you catch them,
and the cops let them go.

You see the police organizing them.
It's maddening.

They always try to catch you
off balance.

These petty hooligans
don't dare get near to you.

You just want to hit them
in the face.

But if you do, they've file
a complaint against you.

Boris was a man who loved
classic male gestures.

If a guy started picking on him,
he wanted to hit him.

Move along,
you're blocking the way.

- Are we in the way?
- Yes.

- No one's walking here.
- Yet.

Well, organize a demonstration.
So that we're actually in the way.

You're not in the way. Yet.

That's why I asked you to move along.

We're leaving now. Don't worry.

- When exactly is "now"?
- In a minute.

From the inside, you only see
the mudslinging and dirty tricks.

That's why it's so hard to find
the strength to keep fighting.

He was sure he wouldn't be killed.
100 percent sure. I asked why?

"Because I was in the highest
echelons of power.

After Stalin, or, rather,
after Beria's execution in 1953,

...no one from this level
was killed in Russia."

You can't see anything from up front.

I can't see where this crowd ends.

Can you imagine
how many of us there are?

They blocked our website.

They hacked our LiveJournal accounts.

They deleted information
about the rally.

And still, despite the rain,
the repression,

...and no one being let in...

...there are so many of us here.

This means we'll win!

On December 5, 2011,

...something extraordinary happened.

First there was a rally
at Chistiye Prudy.

It was organized by the people who'd
held rallies there for seven years...

...with an average attendance
of 300 people.

We knew them all by sight.

The same people went to our rallies
and to Limonov's rallies.

We were just a bunch of freaks,

...doing God knows what.

Then suddenly
7,000 people showed up.

There are hundreds
of brave people here...

....observers at
the so-called elections.

We have to do all we can
so that criminal action is taken...

...against the scum
who stole our vote.

It was a rally of desperation.

We asked people to vote
for any party but United Russia.

Many people heard our plea.

As a result, in Moscow
the authorities had to falsify...

...the vote for United Russia to win.
They didn't have enough votes.

You could see the violations
in hundreds of videos online.

After the rally there was
an unauthorized march.

Several hundred people
were arrested.

About 100 of them, me included,
got from 10 to 15 days in jail.

This was the start
of the protest movement in Moscow.

As a reaction to all this,
about a hundred thousand people...

...took to the streets.

It was the movement of 2011 and 2012...

...that we recall with nostalgia.

Suddenly we saw tens of thousands
sign up on social media...

...to come to the event
on Bolotnaya Square.

Then the authorities panicked.

Nemtsov came up with the idea...

...of the Organizing Committee
for Protests.

He invited me, Navalny, Parkhomenko,

...Boris Akunin, Oleg Kashin, and others.

Boris put this coalition together.

Good afternoon, Moscow!

Free and proud Moscow.

All these people from Parnas,
Yabloko...

...communists, Union of Right Forces,
hipsters, the intelligentsia...

...all said:
"Let's go, let's demand."

At first there were about 55,000,

...but on December 20 we had a huge
turn-out on Sakharov Square.

120,000 came - a great success.

The rally was right in claiming
that the elections had been stolen.

Russia ended up where it is
because of those elected deputies,

...we got isolationism.

They don't stand up to anything.
They just vote "yes."

The stolen votes
led to today's crisis.

So the people on Bolotnaya
were absolutely right.

Nemstov...

...took active part
in organizing that march...

...which ended in a crack-down
and the Bolotnaya court case.

He was very afraid
that it would end in tragedy.

He always tried
to prevent bloodshed.

We were marching to the rally
on Bolotnaya Square...

...to demand annulment of the results
and a new election.

At some point we came up against
a line of police.

They blocked the entry
to the place where the rally was.

So we sat down on the pavement.

We called it a sit-in.

We showed that we meant peace.

Let's all sit down and show
that we are peaceful citizens.

We don't want bloodshed.
We want truth.

The police units moved in,
starting a horrible stampede.

People screaming, falling, fainting.

It was a miracle that no one died.

Then they began to hit people.

Nemtsov tried to organize people.

He got to the stage
and started speaking.

They dragged him off the stage.

Russia has never seen
anything like this!

We'll get through it! Victory!

I hope that in three or four years
the intelligentsia...

...will get out of politics...

...so they can all be
left alone to work.

We won't stay in politics for long.

I mean the intelligentsia.

Tomorrow we'll dock official cars
for representatives.

Do you know about this?
We'll abolish official cars.

- I support you fully.
- Thank you, dear!

In Russia if you were once
a Deputy Prime Minister..

... you're a Deputy Prime Minister
until you die.

Not Nemtsov.

He walked the city, convincing
old ladies to vote for him.

It you vote for Parnas,

I'll live here and work
in the local Duma.

He told me wanted
to run in Yaroslavl.

The situation in the city
was very difficult.

We had long discussions,
long arguments,

...and decided to take part
in that campaign.

I laughed at his campaign.

You with your privatization,
your white pants, your Moscow face...

...with newspaper stories
about your 15 wives...

...you won't get anywhere
in the provinces.

But he did.

This was really impressive.

After he won the elections,
he bought an apartment in Yaroslavl.

He was active in the local Duma.

He got some good results,
even though he was really in minority.

One against all.

Many local bureaucrats
told him privately,

"We can't do what you're doing,
but you're doing great."

This is great. Super-gadget.

How did you do it?

We're walking...

...along the boulevards.

Boris is the only politician
to be reincarnated.

No other politician from the 1990s...

...whom everyone hated could do it.

But he was in some other
political dimension.

He still had terrible ratings.
A lot of people still didn't like him.

But he was in politics.

He ran for a local office.
He had influence.

Tonight Boris Nemtsov is with us.

We're talking about the scheduled
anti-crisis march.

Who came up with the name?

And why is the state flag
your symbol?

It's the first time the opposition
is flying the state flag.

For me personally, this flag
is the symbol of freedom.

I defended the White House in 1991
under the tricolor flag.

When we defeated the coup,

...we raised this flag
over the White House.

This flag is dear to me. Important.
And it is a symbol of freedom.

After Nemtsov's murder,
leaving Russia is unthinkable.

It would be a betrayal
of his memory.

Whatever happens, whatever danger,
leaving isn't an option.

Because Nemtsov stayed.

And he paid for what
he believed in with his life.

I think that...

Boris...

...would have wanted
to die this way.

I think I get him.

He was recklessly courageous.

In front of many people.

On the bridge leading to the Kremlin.

Shot by...

...a real enemy.

Not by accident. It's a good death.

People who fought for freedom,

...the Decembrists and their successors,
and now us...

...have played a crucial role
in the life of Russia.

But they were always a minority.

They moved the country forward often
at the expense of their own life.

Like Alexander II,
like Stolypin, who was killed.

Like Gorbachev and Yeltsin,
who were not killed physically...

...but were morally destroyed.

But I'll be back.

You needn't worry.

100 percent.

DIRECTED BY
VERA KRICHEVSKAYA

WRITTEN BY MIKHAIL FISHMAN,
VERA KRICHEVSKAYA

MUSIC BY
ANDREY MAKAREVICH

PRODUCED BY
YEVGENY GINDILIS,

VERA KRICHEVSKAYA,
MIKHAIL FISHMAN