Durbin, Cassidy Introduce Bill To Rename Street Near The Russian Ambassador's Residence After Alexei Navalny
WASHINGTON – Surrounding the one-year anniversary of Alexei Navalny’s tragic death in a Russian prison, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today introduced legislation to rename a section of the street near the Russian Ambassador to the United States’ residence as “Alexei Navalny Way.” Alexei Navalny was an opposition leader and anticorruption activist who led the political opposition against Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than a decade. Putin tried to silence him by poison and later by imprisonment in remote Russia, from where he continued to advocate for a free Russia. Mr. Navalny died in a prison inside the Arctic Circle, according to Russian authorities last February. The bill was introduced in the House last Congress by U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL-05) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01).
“Putin has tried to silence anyone in Russia who might dissent from his strategy—anyone who might have the audacity to suggest there should be democracy or freedom in that country. He sent one of his harshest critics—Alexei Navalny—to prison and, tragically, to his death,” Durbin said. “With this legislation, we are honoring Alexei’s memory. His efforts for a free Russia will never be forgotten.”
“The world was shaken at the news of Alexei Navalny’s death,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Renaming the street near the Russian Ambassador’s residence, Navalny Way memorializes his fight for freedom and democracy. When Russians visit our nation’s capital, they will remember his unflinching opposition to Putin’s dictatorial control.”
In addition to Durbin and Cassidy, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chris Coons (D-DE), Rick Scott (R-FL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) cosponsored the bill.
Last year, Durbin called for the immediate release of Navalny and Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza—as well as other political prisoners across the globe—in a speech on the Senate floor last month. In 2021, Durbin joined a group of bipartisan Senators to introduce the Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act of 2021, a targeted bill that would impose sanctions on Russian officials complicit in brazen violations of international law, including the poisoning and imprisonment of Mr. Navalny. Durbin also cosponsored the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. In August 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that Vladimir Kara-Murza, along with Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, and others wrongfully detained, had been freed from imprisonment in Russia.
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