I visited Russia in August of 2008, a visit I will not soon repeat. At the time, Russia was operating under an interregnum. The Russian constitution precluded Vladimir Putin from serving more than two consecutive terms as president. So, Dmitry Medvedev had just assumed the presidency as a caretaker, with Putin serving as the prime minister. As a former KGB puppet master, Putin was still the man running the country, with Medvedev dancing to Putin’s tune. If Medvedev wanted to continue using his Leica M camera, he’d had better toe Putin’s line.

Russia remains one of my least favorite places. The museums and architecture are fantastic—reflecting a centuries-old and rich cultural heritage—but there was no street life. Everyone gazed downward while walking the grey, lifeless streets, keeping to themselves. No smiles; no Parisian cafe scene; no kids popping wheelies; and no teenages frolicking on streetcorners listening to music or locked in groping embraces. After two days in Stockholm, I turned to my wife, Evelyn, and said, “Going from Moscow to Stockholm is like going from a black and white film to technicolor.” The Iron Curtain may have lifted, but Russians still live under an oppressive, illiberal regime.

As we stood in line to pass through Immigration Control before we exited St. Petersburg on our way to Stockholm, a man in front of us was dragged out of the line by burly security forces. As he disappeared behind a wood door, we could only wonder whether he would ever see the light of day again

One warm night, we walked through Red Square. Passing the Kremlin and Saint Basil’s Cathedral, we then crossed the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, which spans the Moskva River. On the other side, we discovered a delightful ice cream parlor, which was an unexpected surprise, one that was decidedly at odds with our overall impression. With cones held by our now sticky fingers, we made the return trip across the river.

Seven years later, on February 27, 2015, Russian physicist and politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated near the Moskvoretsky Bridge as he and Anna Duristskaya, his Ukrainian girlfriend, were returning from an evening meal out. Forebodingly, given the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine that is currently shaping geo-politics, Nemtsov was eliminated because he was a vocal critic of Putin’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.

When I saw the news report, I immediately recognized the location where Nemtsov had been gunned down by the assassin who had emerged from a stairwell leading to the bridge. That night in August 2008, as we devoured our ice cream cones, we were tracing what would become Nemtsov’s final footsteps.

For several years following Nemtsov’s assassination, Russian dissidents commemorated the anniversary of his death with a memorial near the site where he had been gunned down (as a municipal utility truck passed by, blocking the view of a state television camera that would have otherwise captured the fatal events). As Putin has tightened his grip on power, the turnout for the annual memorial has fallen off. Too risky. Putin has either killed off his opposition, or forced them into exile. The very few who still bravely continue to memorialize Nemtsov on the anniversary of his murder are subject to beatings and arrest, if not worse.

As I have previously reported, Chicago has a relatively large number of Russian dissidents who have sought political asylum in the United States. Today, they marked the 10th anniversary of Nemtsov’s assassination with a 4:00 PM rally outside the Wrigley Building. If I am not mistaken, there were similar and coordinated rallies throughout the free world.

The sun was out, but the temperatures were well below freezing, which may explain why only 38 demonstrators attended today’s rally. While the anniversary of Nemtsov’s death was the impetus, the group was celebrating the lives of all dissidents who have been murdered or imprisoned, including Alexei Navalny, who was assassinated by Putin’s thugs on February 16, 2024.

No theatrics today; sometimes the demonstrations include a comical masked Putin impersonator. The group stood in a semi-circle, with Trump Tower and the Chicago River as the backdrop. Many held hopeful signs. Four or five people made brief speeches in English. I don’t know if they were responding to my suggestion, but a few weeks ago I told one of the organizers that the speeches should be in English. When in their homes, they can speak to each other in Russian, but on Michigan Avenue, the objective is to ‘speak’ to the people passing by—none of whom speak Russian.

Given the events that transpired in the Oval Office yesterday when President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance viciously dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—evidence of their decision to reverse the U.S.’s longstanding policy of opposing ruthless oppressors bent on territorial expansion—Americans who passed ‘those crazy people’ standing in the cold with the signs should have taken a long, hard look. The Russian émigrés were holding up a mirror. They want for their native land what Americans have increasingly taken for granted—something that Americans are in in the process of losing. That’s what happens when history and civics in school are overshadowed by Tik Tok videos and lies on the campaign trail.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]

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