Russia has renamed the streets in front of the US and UK embassies, now after the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk.
In a provocation from Moscow, the streets where the two countries’ diplomatic missions are located have been renamed after areas where fighting is most intense in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the two territories’ independence in February.
The US and UK do not recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics,” but Moscow officials have said they should at least recognize the new addresses if they want to receive their mail.
A new sign unveiled Friday on the street from the British Embassy names the place Luhansk People’s Republic Square.
The US Embassy in Moscow is located on Donetsk People’s Republic Square in June.
The US has already used this strategy. In the 1980s, the street near the Soviet Embassy in Washington was renamed Andrei Sakharov Square in honor of the Soviet nuclear physicist, human rights activist and dissident.
Since 2018, the stretch of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the new Russian embassy has been home to an opposition member who led protests against Putin, who was shot dead near the Kremlin in 2015 while trying to expose a corruption scandal.
The Russian Embassy in London, at least for now, maintains its address in Kensington Palace Gardens.
On February 24, Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine, condemned by much of the international community, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and strengthening economic and political sanctions on Moscow.
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