Boris Nemtsov was a Russian liberal politician and outspoken critic of [[Vladimir Putin]] who served as Deputy Prime Minister of [[Russia]] under President Boris Yeltsin in the late 1990s. During the Yeltsin era, he was widely regarded as a potential successor to the presidency and was associated with market-oriented economic reforms. After Putin consolidated power, Nemtsov transitioned into opposition politics, becoming one of the most prominent voices against the Kremlin's authoritarian direction. Nemtsov co-authored several investigative reports documenting corruption within the Putin government and was a leading organizer of anti-government protests in Moscow. He was a co-founder of the Republican Party of Russia-People's Freedom Party and remained a vocal advocate for democratic governance and transparency. On February 27, 2015, Nemtsov was shot and killed on a bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow. His assassination drew international condemnation and was widely viewed as part of a broader pattern of violence against opposition figures in Russia. Several Chechen men were convicted in connection with the killing, but critics have argued that those who ordered the assassination were never identified or held accountable.