A leading Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been shot dead in Moscow.
According to several Russian news agencies, the 56-year-old former deputy prime minister was gunned down while walking with a woman near the Kremlin.
He is said to have been shot four times by several people who got out of a car.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and during Boris Yeltsin’s time in charge at the Kremlin, Nemtsov made his name as a western orientated free market reformer.
More recently, he co-founded the anti-Putin movement Solidarity, with chess champion Garry Kasparov, in an effort to unite various opposition groups.
Four years ago, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail after taking part in a New Year’s Eve opposition rally.
