Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been shot dead in Moscow.
Nemtsov, 55, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, had been due to take part on Sunday in the first big opposition protest in months in the capital.
Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed the death, saying it had opened a criminal probe.
“According to preliminary information, an unidentified person shot at Boris Nemtsov no fewer than seven-eight times from a car as he was walking along the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge,” investigators said in a statement.
The committee, which reports directly to Putin, said that “experienced” investigators had been put on the case.
Police cars blocked the street where he was shot. An ambulance was also nearby.
Nemtsov launched his political career as the governor of Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia and became a vice prime minister in the late 1990s under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin.
After leaving parliament in 2003, he helped establish and led several opposition parties and groups.
The murder “bears the hallmarks of a contract killing,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Another interior ministry spokesperson, Yelena Alekseyeva, told reporters at the scene that Nemtsov was walking with a woman when he was shot.
The woman, who is from Ukraine, was now being questioned, she added.
Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has taken charge of the criminal probe, she said.
Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister turned opposition leader, told reporters after viewing the scene:
“This is payback for the fact that Boris consistently for many, many years fought for Russia to be a free democratic country.”
Obama praise
In a statement in response to the shooting, US President Barack Obama said: The United States condemns the brutal murder of Boris Nemtsov, and we call upon the Russian government to conduct a prompt, impartial, and transparent investigation into the circumstances of his murder and ensure that those responsible for this vicious killing are brought to justice.
“Nemtsov was a tireless advocate for his country, seeking for his fellow Russian citizens the rights to which all people are entitled.
“I admired Nemtsov’s courageous dedication to the struggle against corruption in Russia and appreciated his willingness to share his candid views with me when we met in Moscow in 2009.
“We offer our sincere condolences to Boris Efimovich’s family, and to the Russian people, who have lost one of the most dedicated and eloquent defenders of their rights.”
Source: Al Jazeera
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