Moscow officials have approved a request to install a plaque in honor of slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov on the third anniversary of his murder outside the Kremlin.
Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and fierce Putin critic in his later years, was gunned down on the evening of Feb. 27, 2015, while crossing a bridge overlooking the Kremlin. Moscow authorities had refused calls for a memorial site to be installed in honor of Nemtsov, citing regulations that require 10 years to pass after a person’s death.
A Moscow City Hall commission has approved presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak’s request to commemorate Nemtsov with a plaque, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin tweeted on Thursday.
“It will be installed on public money if the home’s residents agree,” Sobyanin wrote.
The approval comes a week after Moscow City Hall gave permission for a march in Nemtsov’s memory scheduled for Sunday, whose organizers expect 30,000 people to attend.
In the past year, Pro-Kremlin activists have removed at least two makeshift plaques dedicated to the opposition figure.
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