Russian Embassy in Washington DC Now on Boris Nemtsov Plaza

Photo Ukrinform – UATV

According to Urinform,“Boris Nemtsov Square will open close to the Russian embassy in Washington D.C., on the third anniversary of his assassination. An official ceremony will be organized only a few meters way from the embassy’s doors.”

“The decision was made by the city council and Washington mayor,” said the chairman of the Boris Nemtsov’s foundation: Volodymyr Kara-Murza Jr.

Mr. Kara-Murza expressed his regrets that Russia was not the first country to commemorate the politician.

“As a Russian citizen, I think this is a very patriotic and pro-Russian initiative – to name the street in front of the Russian embassy building in the name of a Russian statesman. I do not know what do the Kremlin officials think about it, but I know for sure that the day will come when the Russian state will be proud that our embassy in Washington is situated on the Boris Nemtsov Square,” said Volodymyr Kara-Murza.

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On February 27th, 2015, Boris Nemtsov – then, one of Russia’s most outspoken critics of President Putin, was assassinated meters from the Kremlin. His murder sent shivers through opposition circles. International condemnation followed. The politician had planned to attend a protest rally that weekend. Nemtsov was also compiling a report exposing Moscow’s military presence in Ukraine. He was shot several times in the back as he walked with his girlfriend.

To his friends and close supporters, Nemtsov was truly a man who chose principles over political posturing

ILYA PONOMAREV | RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN

11:08 – 11:35 “Boris was a very honest, transparent and lively person….and he listened to his opponents))

Nemtsov rose quickly through political ranks. Aged just 32, then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin selected him to be governor of Nizhny Novgorod oblast. Following that in 1997,, he became first deputy prime minister, heading the energy sector.

“He has grown so much that he can be elected President”

It was clear who Yeltsin’s choice of successor was….

After the government’s dissolution, he headed the ‘Union of Right Forces’ faction in the Russian parliament. During the presidential elections in 2000, the party supported Vladimir Putin. However, Nemtsov quickly realized his mistake.

TARAS CHORNOVIL| POLITICIAN

“I will never forget 2001, when a large delegation of the right opposition, Union of Right Forces, came to Kyiv. Russian politician Irina Khakamada and several other MPs bragged about their achievement – that Putin was elected President. I raised my eyes, looked at Nemtsov and heard this phrase – “well, we’ll see how promising he is”. He said this with such irony, even with sarcasm”

Later, Nemtsov criticized Putin for quashing independent media outlets, the president’s handling of the Nord Ost hostage crisis and Beslan school siege AND for imprisoning billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky for political reasons.

BORIS NEMTSOV | RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN

“His first term was bloody, and the next one was thievish.”

BORIS NEMTSOV | RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN

“We see the graves of these soldiers in Kostroma, Pskov, Novgorod… Why are you, supreme commander in chief, renouncing these soldiers? Why are you lying, saying that there are no our weapons there?”

TARAS CHORNOVIL | POLITICIAN

“ I think Nemtsov was killed so that there wouldn’t be a different Russia. Nemtsov was the embodiment of a different Russia. I think that was the reason.”

Earlier this year, Washington DC renamed a street outside the Russian embassy in the city in honour of the slain activist.