Russian opposition Boris Nemtsov killed in Moscow
Prominent Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov has been shot dead in Russia’s capital city Moscow.
"Boris Nemtsov was shot four times in the center of Moscow at Vasilyevsky spusk. Investigation team is working at the scene," Tass news agency quoted police sources as saying late on Friday night.
Russia’s Interior Ministry has confirmed Nemtsov's murder.
According to police, Nemtsov was accompanied by a woman, who is currently being questioned, at the time of the shooting.
"Nemtsov was walking on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge with a visitor from Ukraine. It was then when he was shot from a passing by car,” said Elena Alekseeva, the spokesperson for the Interior Ministry.
According to Nemtsov’s lawyer, Vadim Prohorov, over the last few months the politician had started to receive death threats on social media sites.
The assassination came ahead of the annual Spring opposition rally scheduled for March 1 in Moscow, which he was set to lead.
Nemtsov had co-chaired the pro-business Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party (RPR-PARNAS) since 2012.
Nemtsov, 55, served as the first deputy prime minister during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the president would take “personal control” of the investigation into Nemtsov’s death.
“Putin noted that this cruel killing has all the signs of a hit, and is a pure provocation,” said Peskov.
Peskov added that Putin has “expressed his deep condolences to the family of tragically deceased Nemtsov.”
SRK/AS/MHB
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