Murder Of Russia Opposition Politician Boris Nemtsov Could Be To "Destabilise The Country"

A leading Russian opposition politician, former Deputy Prime Minister
Boris Nemtsov, has been shot dead in Moscow, Russian officials say.

An unidentified attacker in a car shot Mr Nemtsov four times in the
back as he crossed a bridge in view of the Kremlin, police say.

He died hours after appealing for support for a march on Sunday in
Moscow against the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the murder, the Kremlin says.

President Putin has assumed "personal control" of the investigation
into the killing, said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Investigators said the murder could have been "a provocation aimed at
destabilising the country".

The investigative committee said in a statement that several motives
for the killing were being considered including "Islamic extremism".

US President Barack Obama condemnedthe "brutal murder" and called on
the Russian government to conduct a "prompt, impartial and transparent
investigation".

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described Mr Nemtsov as a "bridge
between Ukraine and Russia".

"The murderers' shot has destroyed it. I think it is not by accident,"
he said in a statement published on his administration's Facebook
page.

In a recent interview, Mr Nemtsov had said he feared Mr Putin would
have him killed because of his opposition to the war in Ukraine.

Mr Nemtsov, 55, served as first deputy prime minister under President
Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s.

He had earned a reputation as an economic reformer while governor of
one of Russia's biggest cities, Nizhny Novgorod.

Falling out of favour with Yeltsin's successor, Mr Putin, he became an
outspoken opposition politician.

Analysis: Sarah Rainsford, BBC Moscow correspondent

A lawyer for Mr Nemtsov reported that he had received death threats
over social media in recent months; but for now there's only
speculation as to why he was targeted. He openly opposed Moscow's role
in the crisis in Ukraine - and the annexation by Russia of Crimea.

He had been planning a rare public protest on Sunday against both
things - and a growing economic crisis in this country.

Since his death, social media has been flooded with tributes to a man
remembered by friends as decent, honest and a democrat. He had been
pushed to the political margins in Vladimir Putin's Russia, but he was
still prominent enough for someone to want to kill him.

Profile: Boris Nemtsov

Russian and world reaction

Mr Nemtsov was shot at around 23:40 (20:40 GMT) on Friday while
crossing Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge accompanied by a woman, Russia's
interior ministry said.

He was shot with a pistol from a white car which fled the scene, a
police source told Russia's Interfax news agency.

According to Russian-language news website Meduza, "several people"
got out of a car and shot him.

One of the politician's colleagues in his RPR-Parnassus party, Ilya
Yashin, confirmed Mr Nemtsov's death.

"Unfortunately I can see the corpse of Boris Nemtsov in front of me
now," he was quoted as saying by Russia's lenta.ru news website.

Flowers were left at the site of the shooting through the night.

--BBC