The opposition should not give in to fear; now its main task is to form a broad political coalition for the 2016 Duma elections

What awaits us after the tragic death of Boris Nemtsov? We have already heard many statements that his murder will be a “turning” point in Russian political history, but where exactly will this turn be?

Few doubt that the organizers of the murder pursued one understandable goal - to sow fear among opposition-minded circles. This calculation is not unfounded. Moods in the spirit of “it’s time to get out” have been actively hovering in the minds for a long time; some prominent opposition figures have openly left Russia and continue to scold Putin from a safe distance. Just yesterday, at the march in memory of Boris Nemtsov, I had to personally talk with ordinary people in the crowd who came up to me and told me about their specific plans, if not to leave, then at least to take their family abroad.

The message that the killers are sending is very clear and unambiguous: we will fight your attempts to change the Russian system and will go to the end.

We will simply kill those who stick out too much.

Of course, it is difficult to maintain composure and composure in such an environment. We are all living people, we all have families, we live an ordinary life, if they want to kill us, as we see, it is easy to do. Neither the proximity of the Kremlin nor massive patrols and surveillance by the FSO will interfere.

The organizers of Nemtsov’s murder were counting on precisely this effect: that after this incident the Russian opposition would throw down its banners, scatter, and go abroad (as many of its prominent representatives had already done - I have no doubt that those who planned the murder and assessed the possible effects from it). Alas, this scenario is real.

However, this is exactly what cannot be allowed in the current situation.

This is the global fork in the current situation: will the organizers of Nemtsov’s murder succeed in achieving their main goal, to scare and scatter the Russian opposition to the winds, or, conversely, will it pass this test and be able to demonstrate a clear alternative to the current system during the 2016-2018 federal election cycle .

For the second one, all the conditions are in place today. Putin’s power has obviously entered a downward trend: although the president’s nominal approval ratings are still at 80%, nevertheless, the victorious moment of the conquest of Crimea has long been forgotten, in Ukraine Putin is stuck without any clear prospect, and economic difficulties have firmly taken first place among the problems. exciting Russians. And it will not be easy to get rid of these difficulties - for now the forecast for the economic situation is absolutely unfavorable. You can look, for example, at the latest Levada Center approval and trust ratings - the number of people who believe that things in Russia are going in the right direction has dropped sharply, by 12 percentage points, to 54%, compared to 66% last year August, when we were at the peak of our Crimea.

Here is the answer to the question: why kill Nemtsov if Putin has a rating of 85%? And then, that the people who conceived and carried out this murder understand the lack of prospects for the current system and the fact that it has already gone downhill. This was clearly visible in the comparison of the sour, ostentatious “anti-Maidan” convened by the authorities the previous weekend with the power and energy of yesterday’s funeral procession in memory of Boris Nemtsov . The authorities are already losing outright to the street; even Yanukovych did better than Putin.

And the notorious “85%” are clearly in no hurry to come out to defend their president.

But these are all incidental circumstances, but the extent to which the opposition will be able to gather and seize this moment in order to put together a coherent anti-Putin coalition and create real competition with the current system in the near future is a big question. Needless to say, the loss of Nemtsov means a lot, since he was an important connector connecting various opposition groups and leaders, who without him would have a certain problem simply in basic communications with each other. Those plotting the murder knew this; their plan was probably to strike the opposition in this part as well.

This test is all the more important for all of us now. It is difficult, of course, to call for composure and struggle when they are killing not just a prominent opposition leader, but a person with whom you were sitting in a cafe just yesterday, peacefully talking, laughing at something. Any one of us could be next.

But there is no other way. I have personally spoken with Boris Nemtsov more than once about the risk of his possible murder and asked how he views it. His reaction to this was always very human: Boris did not hide the fact that he loved life in all its manifestations and did not want to expose himself to risk in vain. But when the question was put to him point blank: is he ready to give up what he is doing for the sake of a quiet life, he frowned like a stubborn bull and sent you away. Because, after all, he spent his entire life trying to bring about change in our country. I've been through a lot: getting hit in the face with ammonia or celebrating the New Year in a cold two-by-two concrete bag is not sugar. Especially for a person who at one time was Yeltsin’s successor and could easily settle comfortably in the West if personal comfort was a priority for him.

We must follow his example. Now is not the time to become limp and think about yourself. We simply must form a broad political coalition against Putin for the Duma elections and organize, among other things, a continuing series of popular actions in our support. Yesterday at the funeral procession, many ordinary people came up to me and asked - some with uncertainty, some with hope: tell me, but you, oppositionists, what will you do now? And what should we, ordinary people, do, who can we count on? The murder of Nemtsov is an event that should unite us and force us to interact more effectively.

The necessary precautions must be taken, but under no circumstances should you be afraid.

And yesterday’s mass turnout of people to mourning events - not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg - shows that there is a huge demand for a strong opposition in Russia, and it is stronger than the demand for “anti-Maidan”. We simply do not have the right to let people down. If sentiments in the spirit of “it’s time to get out” prevail, then the plan of Nemtsov’s killers will fully work. This shouldn't happen.

Nemtsov's death: don't let the killers win