Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was shot dead in Moscow.

According to AFP, on the evening of February 27, opposition leader and former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, a strong critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead in the center of Moscow just before a large-scale opposition march scheduled for March 1.

Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov. (Source: AP)

Early on February 28, a spokesperson for the Russian Interior Ministry stated: "In central Moscow, a man with identification papers bearing the name Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov was murdered," but provided no further details.

The Russian Investigative Committee has confirmed this information and said it has opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

The statement from Russian investigators read: "According to preliminary information, an unidentified assailant in a car shot Boris Nemtsov at least seven or eight times as the victim walked along the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge."

Nemtsov began his political career as governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia and became Deputy Prime Minister of Russia in the 1990s under former President Boris Yeltsin.

After leaving Parliament in 2003, Nemtsov helped found and led several opposition parties and groups.

According to VNA