The DC City Council has voted to rename the street in front of the Russian Embassy “Boris Nemstov Plaza.” Nemstov was an activist to who spoke out against what he saw as rampant corruption and other abuses by the Vladimir Putin government. Nemstov was shot and killed in 2015 just steps from the Kremlin. He was set to lead a large protest against Russian military intervention in Ukraine the next day.
Senator Marco Rubio introduced legislation in the Senate last year that was aimed at renaming the street, but that legislation went nowhere. DC City Councilmember Mary Cheh introduced the legislation that passed last year. The news was greeted negatively in Russia, with one politician calling it a “dirty trick.”