MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Russian opposition politician and state figure Boris Nemtsov, a deputy of a regional parliament, the Yaroslavl state duma, has been shot dead in downtown Moscow, law enforcement agencies told TASS.

"An unknown assailant shot dead Boris Nemtsov in the center of Moscow on St. Basil’s Slope with four shots from a handgun. An investigative group is working at the site of the murder," a law enforcement spokesman said.

"Head of the Interior Ministry’s Main Department in Moscow Anatoly Yakunin has left for the incident site. The incident has been reported to Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev," he said, adding that manhunt activities are underway.

RPR-PARNAS party member Ilya Yashin told TASS that "unfortunately, it is true."

"I am standing on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge and see his body," Yashin told TASS by phone.

Nemtsov was a co-chair of RPR-PARNAS. He had held a number of government positions in the 1990s.