Former Russian deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov will speak today in Boylston Hall on the state of his country's politics in a talk entitled, "Russia: You Can't Understand It, You Can Only Believe In It."

Nemtsov, a visiting fellow at the Davis Center for Russian Studies, Will begin the first of three addresses here at Harvard at 4:15 p.m. in Room 110.

Originally a research scientist with the Russian equivalent of a Ph.D. who worked in a classified defense-related institute for the former Soviet Union, Nemtsov was elected to the Russian Parliament in 1990. A year later he became the governor of the province of Nizhnii Novgorod.

He was appointed deputy prime minister in March of 1997, and although he enjoyed earlier successes, left the government late last year as the ruble plummeted.

In his turbulent term, Nemtsov was a popular advocate of economic reforms, focusing on instituting "people's capitalism."

While he had popular support and he had some success in breaking up Russia's state-owned monopolies, weakened support from President Boris Yeltsin and the downturn of the ruble hastened Nemtsov's departure.

This article was compiled using wire dispatches.