Boris Nemtsov shot dead

Edward Lucas, a journalist with the Economist who was the Moscow bureau chief from 1998 to 2002 praised the 'extraordinarily brave' politician.

Mr Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, died hours after appealing for support for a march on Sunday in Moscow against the war in Ukraine.

Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council and president of the New Eurasia Foundation in Moscow, talked of Nemtsov's 'lust for life', and said that he hoped the opposition would use the tragic events as an 'opportunity to get together'.