D.C. street with Russian embassy gets surprise new name

Russian dissident Boris Nemtsov was a fierce reformer who rose to prominence under Boris Yeltsin and developed into a harsh critic of Vladimir Putin.

He was shot dead in Moscow in 2015 at the age of 55.

But he created several opposition movements following his service in the Russian parliament and even was co-chair of the opposition Republican Party of Russia, the People's Freedom Party.

He slammed Putin for Russia's involvement in Ukraine, blamed him for the nation's failing economy and accused the establishment in Moscow of corruption around the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

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He even played a role in opposition marches in Moscow.

It is Nemtsov now who is being honored by the Washington, D.C., City Council, with a portion of Wisconsin Avenue renamed after him.

It's a section of street in front of the Russian embassy.

The BBC reported a statement from the council said the decision to honor the "slain democracy activist" was unanimous.

"Dirty tricks," responded one Russian official.

The Americans made the move because they "want to play dirty tricks in front of the Russian Embassy," claimed Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian leader quoted in the nation's Interfax agency.

"The U.S. authorities have long been absorbed in their own game of interfering in Russian internal affairs," claimed Dmitry Novikov of the Russian Communist Party.

Nemtsov's daughter went to Washington in early December to advocate for the change.

She said then, "The current Russian political regime wants to eradicate the memory of my father, since it believes – correctly – that symbols are important and that they can potentially facilitate and inspire change."