2015年经济学人 俄罗斯的政界往事 涅姆佐夫桥

（单词翻译）

Russia's politics of memory

NemtsovBridge

A fight over the site of a politician's killing¹ is a proxy² for a broader battle

Remembered with love

MEMORY has long been the subject of fierce and often deadly ideological³ battles inRussia. Those who control the past also control the present.

Following the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a liberal opposition⁴ leader, on a bridge by the Kremlin, a fight for his memory, and for the Russian flag, is taking place.

In Soviet⁵ times, purged⁶ Communist Party members were excised⁷ from photographs as though they never existed.

Now it seems the Kremlin is trying similarly to airbrush Mr Nemtsov.

First Kremlin spin-doctors tried to divert attention from Mr Nemtsov's murder to the “sudden” disappearance⁸ of Vladimir Putin, Russia's president.

Ten days later, Mr Putin re-emerged triumphantly⁹ and celebrated¹⁰ the anniversary of Russia's annexation¹¹ of Crimeaat the spot where Mr Nemtsov died.

A frenzied¹² crowd yelled “Ross-i-ya”, as if that could quash memories of Mr Nemtsov and his opposition to war inUkraine.

In the middle of the night on March 27th, a month after Mr Nemtsov's murder, the authorities cleared the bridge of flowers and photographs.

Thanks to Mr Nemtsov's friends and followers¹³, the memorial was restored. People across the country ordered flowers online, and supporters took them to the bridge.

Mr Nemtsov's photographs under Russian tricolours have been remounted on the balustrade.

Volunteers guard the memorial day and night in snow and rain, sustained with tea and food by ordinary folk.

They will not go away; they are being true to Mr Nemtsov's spirit.

He managed to stay in politics despite state propaganda labelling him a “foreign agent” and “fifth column”.

But fighting Mr Nemtsov after his death may prove even harder than it was during his life.

Groomed¹⁴ to beRussia's liberal president by Boris Yeltsin, the charismatic, honest Mr Nemtsov could turn into a symbol ofRussia's unfulfilled promise.

The display ofRussia's national flag next to his name should be particularly troubling for the Kremlin.

The bridge has already been dubbedNemtsovBridge. It could now become a focal point of liberal opposition to a brutal¹⁵ regime, a role that after 1991 was played by the White House, then the seat of the Russian parliament.

The Kremlin will try to clear the bridge of traces of Mr Nemtsov's murder. But the harder it tries, the more resonant¹⁶ the spot will become.