BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- A leading Russian opposition politician and former deputy prime minister, Boris Nemtsov, was shot and killed. A manhunt for the attacker is now underway.
The Interior Ministry said Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times in the back near St Basil's Cathedral in Red Square. A police spokeswoman on the scene said he had been walking on a bridge over the Moskva River with a Ukrainian woman, when a vehicle drove up and an unidentified assailant shot him dead.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the killing and took the investigation under presidential command. He said it could have been a contract killing and a "provocation" on the eve of a big opposition protest on Sunday.
Nemtsov was an outspoken critic of the government's inefficiency, corruption and policy on Ukraine.
(Source: CNTV.com)
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