Story highlights The new measure will rename a stretch of Wisconsin Avenue to 1 Boris Nemtsov Plaza

Nemtsov, a political activist, was killed in February 2015 near the Kremlin

Washington (CNN) Washington's city council has unanimously passed a measure to rename the street in front of the Russian Embassy after Boris Nemtsov, a pro-democracy activist and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The city council specified in a statement that the passage had been done "on an emergency basis (pending passage of permanent legislation)."

The bill will symbolically rename the stretch of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the embassy to 1 Boris Nemtsov Plaza, adding that name to the street sign.

Nemtsov was shot and killed on a bridge near the Kremlin in February 2015, while walking home with his girlfriend.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested the street name change further illustrated division between the US and Russia.

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