A picture taken on September 15, 2012 shows one of the opposition leaders, former first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov gesturing during an anti-Putin protest in central in Moscow. Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow on February 27, 2015, according to Russian officials. AFP PHOTO
"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.
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