Washington renames Russian embassy street after murdered Russian politician
In a new development, the Washington DC City Council has unanimously voted to rename the street which houses the Russian embassy after slain Russian politician Boris Nemtsov. Nemstov, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot dead outside Kremlin in 2015. Russian politicians have criticized the move with a Russian MP calling it "a dirty trick." Here's more about it.
Details about the assassination of Boris Nemtsov
Nemtsov was shot dead in February 2015 while he was walking home from a restaurant in Moscow. In July 2017, a Russian military court found Chechen gunman Zaur Dadayev and four of his accomplices guilty of his murder and were imprisoned. However, many observers speculate that the murder may have been carried out by Putin's close political aides within Chechnya.
Nemtsov's daughter advocates for the change in street name
Nemtsov's daughter, Zhanna Nemtsova was in Washington DC in December 2017 to advocate for changing the street's name before the city council. She said that Russia's current political regime wants to "eradicate her father's memory" and asserted that her father deserves to be commemorated. "For now, we cannot do it in Russia......but we have a chance to do it here," she added.
Russian politicians criticize the move
Russian news agency, Interfax quoted Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky as stating that US "specifically want to play dirty tricks in front of the Russian Embassy". "The US authorities have long been absorbed in their own game of interfering in Russian internal affairs," Communist Party leader Dmitry Novikov reportedly stated.
