Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead near Kremlin

Nemtsov was due to lead a major opposition rally over the Ukraine war on March 1

MOSCOW: Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a fierce critic of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, was shot dead near the Kremlin in central Moscow late on Friday, just two days before he was supposed to lead a major rally against the war in Ukraine, investigators and police said.

"In central Moscow, a man with documents in the name of Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov was killed," an interior ministry spokesperson told AFP early Saturday, declining to give further details.

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 7-8 times from a car as he was walking along the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge," investigators said in a statement.

 

Medics lift the body of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on Moskvoretsky bridge near St. Basil cathedral in central Moscow. PHOTO: AFP

 

The committee, which reports directly to Putin, said that "experienced" investigators had been put on the case.

Nemtsov launched his political career as the governor of Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia and rose to 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.

Nemtov's murder comes ahead of a major opposition rally scheduled to take place on March 1.