Confirmed: Prague square outside Russian Embassy to be renamed after slain opposition leader Nemtsov

Prague, Feb 24 (CTK) – The Prague square in which the Russian embassy is seated will be renamed after the murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov this week, the City Council decided today.

The square is to be officially renamed on Thursday, February 27, on the fifth death anniversary of Nemtsov.

The City Council declared that Prague follows the example of other capital cities that have been pointing to the sad political situation in Russia. It is a political gesture and an expression of solidarity with the Russian opposition and the human rights movement.

Washington and Vilnius also renamed the squares outside the Russian embassies after Nemtsov.

Nemtsov was Russian deputy PM under president Boris Yeltsin in 1997-1998. After his departure from parliament in 2003, he co-organised street protests against the Vladimir Putin regime and criticised the Kremlin for the worsening economic situation, corruption and Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

He was repeatedly arrested for joining protests. He was shot dead in Moscow on February 27, 2015, a few days before a demonstration against Putin and the war in Ukraine. A group of Chechens was convicted of the murder, but it was never detected who ordered it.

The Prague City Hall toponymic commission was originally against the renaming of the Pod Kastany square where the Russian embassy is situated. But earlier this month it noted that no one would have to apply for new personal documents because no one has permanent residence in the square, and that the old name Pod kastany will remain preserved for an adjacent street.