Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for assigning resources for common reference signal (CRS) transmissions from user equipment (UE) relays. Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques to use minimum possible resources for transmission of CRS in an attempt to reduce interference, reduce power consumption while providing appropriate reference for channel measurement and demodulation. In an aspect, a wireless node (e.g., a UE relay station) may determine resources for transmission of CRS in a subframe based, at least in part, on a type of one or more channels to be transmitted in the subframe, and may transmit the CRS using the determined resources.