Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead, police hunt killers

(Reuters) - Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin and Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis, was shot dead steps from the Kremlin in a murder that underscored the risks taken by the Russian opposition.

Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times in the back by assailants in a white car as he walked across a bridge over the Moskva River in central Moscow with a Ukrainian woman, who was unhurt, just before midnight on Friday, police said.

Police sealed off the blood-stained bridge close to the red walls of the Kremlin and Red Square for two hours after the gangland-style killing reminiscent of Russia in the chaotic 1990s after the collapse of the Communist Soviet Union.

A former deputy prime minister who had feared he would be murdered, Nemtsov was the most prominent opposition figure killed in Putin's 15-year-rule. The Kremlin deflected blame and the government said everything must be done to find the killers.

Putin condemned the "brutal" slaying and took the investigation under presidential control, saying it could have been a contract killing and a "provocation" on the eve of a big opposition protest Nemtsov had been due to lead on Sunday.

But the killing focused attention on the tough treatment of Kremlin opponents in Putin's third term, during which several leading critics have been jailed or have fled the country following mass rallies against the former KGB spy three years ago.

"That a leader of the opposition could be shot beside the walls of the Kremlin is beyond imagination. There can be only one version: that he was shot for telling the truth," Mikhail Kasyanov, an opposition leader and a former prime minister under Putin, said at the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev cautioned 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.

U.S. President Barack Obama called for a prompt, impartial and transparent investigation to ensure those responsible were brought to justice for the "vicious killing."

"Nemtsov was a tireless advocate for his country, seeking for his fellow Russian citizens the rights to which all people are entitled," Obama, who has fiercely criticized Putin over Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis, said in a statement.  Read More at Nemtsov shot dead

Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead, police hunt killers

Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead in Moscow