By Dan Boylan - The Washington Times - Wednesday, January 10, 2018
The District of Columbia’s city council has voted to rename the street outside the Russian Embassy after a Russian opposition figure who was assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015.
A “portion of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the Russian Embassy” will now be known as Boris Nemtsov Plaza, according to the D.C. Council.
Reaction was swift from Russian politicians with Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a prominent Russian national party leader, condemning the move as the U.S. playing “dirty tricks in front of the Russian Embassy,” according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
The D.C. Council approved the change during a unanimous vote on Tuesday to honor Mr. Nemtsov, a “slain democracy activist” according to a statement.
Under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, Mr. Nemtsov enjoyed a successful political career. He then became a well-known and vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In Moscow in February 2015, he was shot in the back four times while walking home after dining in a restaurant.
