Time passes: heroes leave us, and so do those who truly brought honor to the country. And while there remain forces that, for the sake of their base survival, are ready to kill these heroes, sadly the forces of evil continue to prevail over the forces of good in Russia. But there is one point over which today’s forces of evil have no power: kind memory — of those who, with their lives, sought to build and change the country for the better, and of those who wanted all their lives to cling to power at any cost — to deceive, steal, and kill. This memory cannot be taken away or “reset.” That is why unofficial memorials still exist at the places where heroes lived and were murdered. Let us give them the honor and respect they deserve.

4,000 days since the murder of Boris Nemtsov

A minute of silence on Nemtsov Bridge — February 9, 2026

“Nemtsov Bridge. 4,000 Days”
February 9, 2026

Nemtsov Bridge. The memorial to Boris Nemtsov.
Almost above it — the Spasskaya Tower. The Kremlin chimes.
The clock counts seconds, minutes, hours, and days.

February 9 marks 4,000 days since the murder of Boris Nemtsov.
He was killed by four bullets on this bridge.
Killed in the very center of Moscow — where, it would seem, the worst should never happen. But it did.

Immediately after the murder, people brought flowers. So many flowers that few had probably ever seen: they lay from the very beginning of the bridge almost to its midpoint — like a living, unbroken stream of remembrance. People came in silence and out loud, alone and in groups, in any weather. They came because they could not do otherwise.

The vigils did not begin at once — about a month later, after the people’s memorial had been vandalized several times. Then it became clear: memory, too, has to be defended — not with slogans or loud words, but with daily presence — so that flowers, candles, a portrait would remain here, and the most important thing would not disappear: the evidence that the murder is not a “closed topic,” but a wound that still hurts the living.

Gradually the notion of “Nemtsov Bridge” took shape — a people’s name that one day will become official. And it is not only about a sign. It is about the fact that the name already lives in speech, in routes, in human memory — and therefore the truth of what happened lives.

4,000 days of confrontation and struggle.
4,000 days in which someone tries to make you get used to it, to tire you out, to train you not to remember.
4,000 days when it seems there is not enough strength — and yet you come again.
4,000 days when every flower left on the bridge says: “We are here. We remember.”
4,000 days when a small gesture becomes a great human “no” to indifference.

4,000 days of gains and losses.
Over these 4,000 days, 13 people from our small community have died — those who stood watch, kept vigil, brought flowers, preserved the memorial, held this line of memory, sometimes at the cost of health, time, and strength:

Natalya Gladovskaya
Sergey Dobrin
Pavel Kolesnikov
Vladimir Koptsov
Valera Kuzmenkov
Aleksey Mikheev
Svetlana Genrikhovna Novosyolova
Natalya Vasilyevna Ponomarenko
Irina Svergun
Ivan Skripnichenko
Olga Terekhina
Vladimir Ivanovich Fedchuk
Sergey Ivanovich Shevchenko

Each name is not just a line. It is a person who chose not to be silent and not to walk past. They are part of this bridge just as much as its stones and railings. Their memory is part of our shared memory.

We gather on February 9, 2026 on Nemtsov Bridge to honor a minute of silence for Boris Nemtsov and for all who have gone — defending the right to truth, dignity, and freedom. You can come for a minute or for an hour — as you can. One thing matters: to be together and not to surrender memory to oblivion.

Freedom is expensive.

The Nemtsov Bridge Volunteers / Watchkeepers