POLITICS/RUSSIA: “New legislation championed by two DC Council members would symbolically change the name of a small stretch of road outside the Russian Embassy to that of Boris Nemtsov, a pro-democracy Russian dissident who was assassinated in Moscow in 2015.
The honorary renaming is meant to send a message to Russia and the rest of the world, according to council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who cosponsored the bill with Chairman Phil Mendelson. The bill would symbolically rename the stretch of Wisconsin Avenue to 1 Boris Nemtsov Plaza, adding that name to the street sign. The measure is scheduled to get its first hearing next week…
Nemtsov was a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin…
Members of Congress have jurisdiction over DC and the ability to pass bills to rename streets…
Cheh added that she had met with Nemtsov’s daughter before making the decision to back the legislation.
This wouldn’t be the first time a Russian Embassy’s address was honorarily renamed. Back in 1987, street signs outside the then-Soviet Embassy were changed to include the moniker of Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet human rights activist who had been placed under internal exile.”
-Miranda Green, “Bill would name DC street outside Russian Embassy for slain Putin dissident,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Nov. 28, 2017 06:28pm