Boris Nemtsov Gives Radio Interview Hours Before Murder Boris Nemtsov Gives Radio Interview Hours Before Murder Boris Nemtsov Gives Radio Interview Hours Before Murder Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov gives radio interview in Moscow just hours before he is gunned down in the shadow of the Kremlin. Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov shot dead on Moscow street a day before first major anti-Putin protest in months A leading Russian opposition politician and vocal critic of Vladimir Putin was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on the streets of Moscow this evening. Police said early on Saturday that former deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was under surveillance by his killers before they fatally shot him down in the shadow of the Kremlin. 'The murderers knew Nemtsov's route, he was spied on,' said the source. An unidentified assassin killed the liberal politician - who had been tipped as a future Russian president - with four shots fired while he was walking with a woman across a bridge. He was shot in the back just metres from the Kremlin shortly after midnight local time. His female companion, a Ukrainian citizen, was unhurt. President Putin condemned the murder and said it may have been a contract killing, according to Russian news agencies. His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the shooting could also be a 'provocation' as the opposition has planned a big protest in Moscow on Sunday. He said Putin had been quickly informed of the killing and that the president had expressed his condolences and ordered the security agencies to investigate. Britain has said it will follow closely investigations into the killing. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: 'We are shocked and saddened by news that former Russian deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov has been shot and killed in Moscow. 'Our thoughts are with his family and we offer our condolences to them. We deplore this criminal act. Those responsible must be brought to justice. We will continue to follow the situation closely.' 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. 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.' 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. He helped organise street protests and wrote extensively about official corruption.

• published: 28 Feb 2015
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