Outspoken Putin Critic Boris Nemtsov Shot Dead In Moscow

Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down in a 'politically motivated' attack in front of his 23-year-old Ukrainian model girlfriend, according to reports.

The former deputy Prime Minister, 55, and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin was 'under surveillance' by his killers before he was shot in the shadow of the Kremlin the day before an anti-Putin protest.

He had been out for dinner with Anna  

Duritskaya, 23, at a restaurant inside GUM, a department store in Moscow's Red Square in the hours before his death, and the pair then went for a walk.

The married father-of-four was shot four times by assailants in a white car as the couple walked across a bridge over the Moskva River at midnight on Friday but the 23-year-old model was unhurt.

'The murderers knew Nemtsov's route, he was spied on,' said a police source. 

He had been working on a report presenting evidence he believed proved Russia's direct involvement in the separatist rebellion that erupted in eastern Ukraine last year. 

Just hours before his death, Nemtsov told Ekho Moskvy radio that Putin had pushed Russia into an economic crisis through his 'mad, aggressive and deadly policy of war against Ukraine.'

President Putin has condemned the murder and assumed 'personal control' of the investigation into the killing, said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov. 

Mr Peskov, said the shooting could also be a 'provocation' as the opposition has planned a big protest in Moscow on Sunday.  

The Russian leader has asked the heads of Russia's Investigative Committee, Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service to investigative and put the case under their personal supervision.

David Cameron has said he is 'shocked and sickened by the callous murder' and called for a transparent investigation. 

 Nemtsov was one of the organisers of the Spring March opposition protest set for Sunday, which comes amid an economic downturn in Russia caused by low oil prices and Western sanctions.

The liberal reformer, who has four children, is believed to have been dating was Ms Duritskaya for several years, despite his marriage to Raisa Akhmetovna and four-children.

The Ukrainian model spoke to police and helped them to establish the sequence of events.

Opposition activist Ilya Yashin told Ekho Moskvy radio he had no doubt that Mr Nemtsov's murder was politically motivated. 

 He said: 'Boris Nemtsov was a stark opposition leader who criticised the most important state officials in our country, including President Vladimir Putin.

'As we have seen, such criticism in Russia is dangerous for one's life. He got lots of threats, mostly via social networks, anonymously.

'I have no doubt this was a political killing. The only threat to his life came from his political activity. He had no foes other than political ones.'

Nemtsov's death came one year after the Russian annexation of Crimea in a special operation by Russian special forces. The politician was a strong and outspoken critic of Putin's policy on Ukraine.

Just hours earlier, Putin had declared 27 February a new 'professional holiday' for special operation soldiers in his armed forces and secret services. 

Political analyst Sergey Parkhomenko alluding to this new holiday said that Nemtsov's killing was carefully planned and a 'present' for someone.

'There is a war going on here. If someone thinks otherwise... we're now living in a country that is fully-fledged in a war.'

'Nemtsov's murder is a terrible tragedy for Russia,' said ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin, a Putin ally. 

Britain has said it will follow closely investigations into the killing.

Prime Minister, David Cameron, said: 'I am shocked and sickened by the callous murder of Boris Nemtsov as he walked in the heart Moscow last night. 

'This despicable act must be fully, rapidly and transparently investigated, and those responsible brought to justice.

'Boris Nemtsov was a man of courage and conviction. His life was dedicated to speaking up tirelessly for the Russian people, to demanding their right to democracy and liberty under the rule of law, and to an end to corruption. 

'He did so without fear, and never gave in to intimidation. He was greatly admired in Britain, not least by his friend Lady Thatcher, who visited him in Russia and who would have been appalled by today's news. The courage of Nemtsov's life contrasts with the utter cowardice of his murder.

'I extend my condolences to Boris Nemtsov's family and friends. The Russian people have been deprived of a champion of their rights. Boris Nemtsov is dead. But the values he stood for will never die.'

US President Barack Obama has also condemned the 'brutal murder', the White House National Security Council said tonight on Twitter.

The White House called on the Russian government to conduct a 'prompt, impartial and transparent investigation' and to 'ensure those responsible are brought to justice.'  

Obama said he met Nemtsov in Moscow in 2009 when the Russian was willing to 'share his candid views with me'.

'We offer our sincere condolences to his family and to the Russian people, who have lost one of the most dedicated and eloquent defenders of their rights,' he said. 

Police cars blocked the street where Nemtsov was shot, and an ambulance was also nearby. 

'Nemtsov B.E. died at 2340 hours as a result of four shots in the back,' an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. 

Nemtsov, 55, first gained an international profile after being spotted by former British premier Margaret Thatcher as a future leader of Russia, and she praised his market reforms after visiting Nizhny Novgorod where as governor in the early 1990s he led spearheaded reforms.

Later he rose to become deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin, but he was always opposed as too Western and liberal by hardliners.

He had angered the government two years ago when he charged that billions of dollars had been stolen from funds designated for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, his home town. 

He blamed 'Putin's friends' for the alleged embezzlement, which he described as 'a real threat to Russia's national security.' 

Putin's former premier Mikhail Kasyanov, now an opposition leader, said: 'The comments are very easy: the bastards.

'They killed my friend in Moscow city centre, near the Kremlin wall.' 

He warned: 'This is a demonstration for all of us, for all open-minded people of Russia. How freedom of speech is finished in today's Russia.

'Could we have imagined an opposition leader killed by the Kremlin wall yesterday? We couldn't. The country is rolling to the abyss. It is terrible.'

His death was 'payback for the fact that Boris consistently, for many, many years fought for Russia to be a free democratic country.'

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warned against jumping to conclusions.

'Certain forces will try to use the killing to their own advantage. They are thinking how to get rid of Putin,' he said.

Another key opposition figure Vladimir Ryzhkov said: 'I'm absolutely shocked. It's the first case of political murder in many years, a slaying of a politician of federal level.'

The killing was an 'extraordinary, shocking event.'

He said that 'political responsibility for what happened is with the authorities.'

Nemtsov had publicly expressed concerns for his life earlier this month and was outspoken in his opposition to Putin.

He was highly critical of the government's inefficiency, rampant corruption and the Kremlin's policy on Ukraine, which has strained Russia-West ties to a degree unseen since Cold War times.