Florida Sen. Marco Rubio put forward legislation Monday that would rename the street in front of the Russian ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., after murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
The bill would change the residence’s current address from 2650 Wisconsin Avenue, to 1 Boris Nemtsov Plaza.
“Two years ago, Boris Nemtsov was murdered on a Moscow bridge within view of the Kremlin, and no one has been held accountable,” said Rubio, in a statement. “He was just one of Vladimir Putin’s critics who have wound up dead or hospitalized as the regime cracks down on any opposition and rules Russia with an iron fist.”
Nemtsov was a successful political opposition leader in Russia, and a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was shot in the back four times on a bridge not far from the Kremlin Feb. 27, 2015. Nemtsov had reportedly feared for his life prior to his death, writing three weeks before the shooting that his mother was afraid Putin would have him murdered. The opposition leader was reportedly in the midst of preparing a report on the presence of Russian military forces in eastern Ukraine before the attack.
Putin assumed “personal control” of the Nemtsov murder investigation, which eventually led to the prosecution of several Chechen suspects. Associates of Nemtsov expressed skepticism regarding the prosecution of the Chechens. The murder investigation and subsequent arrests are considered dubious by some Kremlin critics.
Rubio noted that he hopes the renaming of the street will ensure that Nemtsov, and the numerous other victims of Putin, will not be forgotten.
“The creation of ‘Boris Nemtsov Plaza’ would permanently remind Putin’s regime and the Russian people that these dissidents’ voices live on, and that defenders of liberty will not be silenced. It will also help raise awareness among the American people about the ongoing abuses in Putin’s Russia.”
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