The night watch

Not only has the Russian government refused to grant permission for a permanent monument dedicated to Nemtsov at the site, there have in the past been multiple attempts by the authorities and sometimes even by nationalist and pro-government vigilantes to destroy the makeshift memorial that has sprung up on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge instead. As a result of these once frequent actions, a group of volunteers has worked for years now to guard the monument on what is known universally as Nemtsov Bridge.

Until just over a year ago, Mishchenko did his own watches at night, usually alongside fellow activist Pavel Kolesnikov. But everything changed last autumn when Mishchenko was suddenly arrested and Kolesnikov suffered a stroke and would go on to die a year later.

For his part, Mishchenko was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of “participating in a terrorist organisation”, for corresponding with the Freedom of Russia Legion, which fights alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the Russian military and is designated a terrorist organisation in Russia.

After hearing about Mishchenko’s sentence, I wondered: what if he had never gone to the bridge in 2017, had never become a volunteer, had never stood watch — would any of this have happened? Would an FSB provocateur whose testimony formed the basis of the case against him have gained his trust? However, after speaking with Mishchenko’s friends and fellow activists, I realised he could never have deviated from his path and would have ended up on that bridge sooner or later. 

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Yevgeny Mishchenko, an engineer who lived a quiet life in Moscow with his wife, never wanted to leave Russia, and as freedom of speech and fair elections were extremely important to him, at the first signs of impending totalitarianism, Mishchenko began attending demonstrations, mounted solo protests and served as a member of a local election commission. 

A deeply religious person, Mishchenko would always use Biblical quotations for the signs he’d hold up at protests, and even conducted Bible seminars at the now shuttered Sakharov Centre. Mishchenko was detained several times for his attendance of protests, as well as for his solo pickets, and even for reading the Constitution aloud on Red Square. 

The police eventually began to file reports on his activities, forcing him to attend court hearings at which he was typically fined, although he was placed in custody for 10 days. Perhaps inevitably, Mishchenko eventually came to the bridge in 2017, joining the many who go there to keep watch over the unofficial memorial to Nemtsov and to defend it from those who regularly attempt to dismantle it. 

While many sympathisers with the cause stay for just a few watches before leaving, others continue to stand watch for scores of shifts, irrespective of how bad the weather gets. Mishchenko fell into the latter category and continued to be a regular volunteer at Nemtsov Bridge until his arrest, standing watch in the evenings after work, and sometimes all night. These are the most difficult, especially in bad weather — just try standing on a wind-swept bridge all night. Mishchenko did so regularly.

“For Yevgeny, keeping watch over the bridge was like a religious service,” recalls Darya*, who also volunteers at Nemtsov Bridge. “His faith and his political views were deeply connected. There are many believers among us, but it was particularly evident in him.”

The volunteers normally provide round-the-clock security for the memorial, and if, as sometimes happens, there’s nobody available to stand guard — usually due to illness or volunteers being detained by the police — then rather than leave the site unattended, the volunteers will simply remove the memorial temporarily themselves. 

While a small bouquet of flowers is left behind on the bridge, the portraits of Nemtsov himself are always removed, in accordance with a request from his family. Indeed, as a car owner, it normally fell to Mishchenko to remove Boris Nemtsov’s memorial on such occasions. 

According to his fellow volunteers, Mishchenko was the only one of their number who would attempt to engage in dialogue with the “concerned citizens” who would occasionally turn up and either try to cause trouble or vandalise the memorial. Though volunteers are in fact instructed not to interact with troublemakers, Mishchenko couldn’t help but make a genuine attempt to change their minds. 

Always calm, conscientious and patient with such people, Mishchenko never showed any outward signs of irritation, but while his disposition made him an ideal person to reach out across the ideological divide, it also made him a “good target for provocateurs”, Darya notes.

A certain Karasyov

Rather than an unhinged nationalist intent on destroying the memorial, the provocateur who eventually infiltrated the group turned out to be an agent from the Russian Interior Ministry’s notorious anti-extremism directorate, Centre E, best known for its work persecuting opposition activists. 

Going undercover, the agent posed as a volunteer in order to gain Mischenko’s trust, according to information revealed at a pretrial court hearing. Mischenko’s detention in September 2023 on suspicion of “participating in a terrorist organisation” puzzled those around him. Did this mean that the Nemtsov Bridge volunteers were regarded as terrorists? However, it later emerged that the case was related to the Freedom of Russia Legion, which fights alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces against the Russian military.

During his detention, Mishchenko suffered three broken ribs, having been tortured and threatened with violence. When his apartment was searched by some 20 law enforcement officers dressed in camouflage, the alarmed neighbours asked Mishchenko’s wife Natalia if her husband had murdered somebody. 

While the investigation into Mishchenko took over a year to complete, his trial lasted for just two days, as the entire case was based on testimony provided by Centre E agent Alexey Karasyov. Pretending to share Mishchenko’s passionate belief in democracy and human rights, Karasyov had regularly come to the bridge during Mishchenko’s shifts where he would initiate political discussions, which he secretly recorded.

Though he never made an appearance in court during Mishchenko’s trial, Karasyov had worked fast. Karasyov began his assignment at Nemtsov Bridge on 28 April 2023, and by 3 June, Mishchenko had told him that he had been in contact with the Freedom of Russia Legion, according to the official charges made against Mishchenko. 

On 24 August, the pair travelled together to the town of Pereslavl-Zalessky in the Yaroslavl region to record the location of a military unit, something that Mishchenko told the court had been Karasyov’s initiative. However, the trip was sufficient grounds for Karasyov to file a report of suspected criminal activity. 

Not the last word

In hindsight, the decision to make Mishchenko a target for surveillance was quite a logical one — if he was happy to engage in dialogue with the vandals who used to attack Nemtsov Bridge, sending a professional provocateur to his door would be the least the authorities could do. 

Although Mishchenko’s alleged correspondence with the Freedom of Russia Legion was never proven by investigators, who, despite having a full year to do so, were unable to establish the identity of the person with whom he had corresponded, the prosecutor still demanded a 16-year sentence for Mishchenko to be served in a high-security prison. The court ultimately settled on 12 years.

While Mishchenko did not deny the content of his conversations with Karasyov, he fiercely maintained his innocence to the charges against him. His final statement to the court had the unmistakable tone of a sermon: “We know that people went to protests, opposed and disagreed with the existing government, and as the Gospel tells us: every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.”

When Mishchenko said in court that he would “still hold the same convictions” upon his release from prison, we can confidently take him at his word, and despite his own health problems and those of his wife, who is seriously ill with rheumatoid arthritis, both are hopeful that they will live to see his release. 

Indeed, while few doubt that Mishchenko will remain himself whether in or out of prison, a person who radiates benevolence to the degree he does is in a unique position to positively influence anyone lucky enough to be his cellmate for the next 12 years. 

* All names have been changed