WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said he expects bipartisan support for renaming the street in front of the Russian Embassy in Washington to honor Russia's slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.
Rubio, a Republican, proposed the legislation on the second anniversary of Nemtsov's fatal shooting on a bridge near the Kremlin.
"It's important because it highlights a particular case of an individual who lost his life because of his opposition to the Putin government," Rubio told RFE/RL.
"The naming of that street will be a reminder every day -- not only to visitors to that embassy, also to people who work in there --that the current president of the Russian Federation is a thug and a criminal," said Rubio, who has become a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin's government.
Five suspects are being tried for Nemtsov's killing, but his relatives say those who carried out the contract-style killing were following orders from someone higher up.
Some 15,000 Russians marched through Moscow on February 27 to honor Nemtsov and to call for justice. Thousands also rallied in cities across Russia.