MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Prague’s municipal authorities should honor the memory of Soviet servicemen who liberated Eastern Europe from Nazi oppression, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, commenting on the Prague city administration's decision to rename a square after late Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov.
When asked what the Kremlin thought about Prague City Hall’s proposal to rename one of its squares after Nemtsov, Peskov said, "it seems that the city’s authorities have the sovereign right to do so." "We would certainly prefer if the city officials also remembered the Red Army and its soldiers who sacrificed their lives to liberate the city from the Nazis," the Russian presidential spokesman added.
He emphasized that the Kremlin did not plan to hold any events dedicated to the fifth anniversary of Nemtsov’s murder. "It’s doubtful anyone will mark the anniversary, there’s no reason for celebrating," he said.
Boris Nemtsov, Russia’s former Deputy Prime Minister and co-chairman of the PARNAS political party, was gunned down in downtown Moscow on February 27, 2015. In July 2017, the Moscow District Military Court handed down prison sentences to five perpetrators ranging from 11 to 20 years in a maximum-security penal colony.
The Prague City Council earlier decided to rename an alley in a district where the Russian embassy is located after slain Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya and also rename a square in front of the embassy after Nemtsov. The new nameplates for Nemtsov Square are expected to be unveiled on February 27.