Shot in the back: Outspoken critic of Putin gunned down on streets of Moscow

Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian deputy prime minister and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, has died after being shot four times by a passing car in Moscow. The 55-year-old was targeted by an unidentified attacker near the Kremlin during the early hours of Saturday morning - and was shot in the back. According to colleagues, he was working on a report which apparently included concrete evidence that Russia was directly involved in the separatist movement which erupted in Ukraine last year. At the time of the attack, Mr Nemtsov was walking along a bridge with a Ukrainian woman, who was uninjured in the shooting. She is now being questioned by police.

[The murder] bears the hallmarks of a contract killing.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

A senior opposition politician, Mr Nemtsov was an outspoken detractor of Vladimir Putin’s administration - and had planned to attend an “anti-crisis march” through the capital on Sunday. The economist had said in an interview with Russian media: “Every time I called (my mother), she laments: ‘When are you going to stop scolding Putin? He will kill you!’” Mr Putin has condemned the death, which he said looked like a “contract killing” - adding that he will personally oversee the investigation into the shooting. Meanwhile, the White House has demanded that the investigation is “prompt, impartial and transparent”.

Devastated to hear of the brutal murder of my long-time opposition colleague Boris Nemtsov. Shot four times, once for each child he leaves.

Tweet from Garry Kasparov, chairman of the Human Rights Foundation

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