Camden is following cities around the world by naming an area in Highgate after the assassinated pro-democracy campaigner Boris Nemtsov.
Camden Council is the first local authority in the UK to show solidarity by applying to rename a junction at Highgate Road, Highgate West Hill and Swains Lane "Boris Nemtsov Place" – near the Russian Trade Delegation.
Boris Nemtsov repeatedly spoke out against Vladimir Putin’s regime and campaigned to uphold democracy in Russia.
Tragically, having become a prominent and effective voice of opposition, he was shot and killed crossing the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, near the Kremlin, as he walked home with his Ukrainian girlfriend Anna Duritskaya after a night out on February 27 2015.
Supporters and friends have successfully lobbied global cities home to Russian embassies and consulates to rename locations near them.
According to the Washington Post, on December 6 2017, Nemtsov's daughter Zhanna Nemtsova travelled from Germany, with other family members and Russian dissidents, to urge members of the Council of the District of Columbia—Washington, D.C.'s legislature—to rename a portion of the street in front of the Russian Embassy "Boris Nemtsov Plaza" in honour of her father.
Camden would join Washington DC, Vilnius, Kyiv, Bratislava, Prague and Greater Toronto in naming an area after Boris Nemtsov – and become the first place in the UK to do so.
Leader of Camden Council Cllr Georgia Gould said: “Boris Nemtsov’s life and death are an invaluable reminder of the constant need to fight for democracy, liberty, and rule of law, and stark warning not to take them for granted. It would be an honour to join the other cities around the world who chose to pay tribute to his legacy.
“I am grateful to the extraordinary courage of democracy campaigner Vladimir Kara-Murza who has championed this project and his wife Evgenia Kara-Murza who has carried the torch following his imprisonment in Moscow for speaking out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"This tribute honours Boris Nemtsov and all those following in his legacy who continue to put their lives at risk for democracy and freedom.”
To comment on the application to name the area email streetnaming@camden.gov.uk by midnight on November 9, 2022.
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