Assassination of Boris Nemtsov

Local officials in the Russian capital Moscow have refused to allow a mourning march in memory of oppositioner Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead on Friday evening.

Aleksey Mayorov, a municipal public safety official, says only the government is currently able to respond to a demand by opposition activists who wish to hold the rally in Moscow's central area.

Investigators are working on the hypothesis that the killing of Boris Nemtsov was related to his stance on the attack of Charlie Hebdo magazine.

"Nemtsov received threats related to his position on the shooting of journalists in the office of Charlie Hebdo edition in Paris," Vladimir Markin, who represents the Investigative Committee of the Russian Fed?ration, said in a statement.

Bulgaria strongly condemns the murder of the prominent Russian oposition leader and former Deputy PM Boris Nemtsov, the top Bulgarian diplomat Daniel Mitov has said.

Mitov has extended his condolence to Nemtsov's relatives in a statement dated Saturday morning.

Leaders across the globe have reacted to the events of Thursday evening when prominent Russian oppositioner Boris Nemtsov was killed.

US President Barack Obama condemned the "brutal murder" in a statement and urged a "prompt, impartial and transparent investigation" .

Police have found four vehicles that CCTV systems spotted at the time and place of Boris Nemtsov's murder.

Nemtsov was shot 4-6 times in the back and died shortly before midnight on Thursday as he crossed a bridge in the view of the Kremlin. The fatal wound came from a shot in the heart, RT has reported.

A manhunt is now underway.

The death of Russian opposition politician and former Deputy PM Boris Nemtsov resembles a contract killing, Russian authorities believe.

This comes after Nemtsov was shot dead on Friday, shorly before midnight local time (20:40 GMT).

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is now personally in control of the investigation, according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian opposition politician and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov has been shot dead in central Moscow.

Nemtsov was shot four times in the back by an unknown attacker, according to a law enforcement source, as cited by the Interfax news agency.

The killer is said to have escaped in a car.

The incident happened at around 23:40 local time near the Kremlin.