Prominent Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov shot dead

In this file photo taken on Thursday, May 30, 2013, Boris Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister and opposition leader, presents a report claiming widespread corruption during preparations for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, at a news conference in Moscow, Russia. AP PHOTO/IVAN SEKRETAREV

MOSCOW—Russia’s Interior Ministry said Boris Nemtsov, a leading opposition figure and former deputy prime minister, had been shot and killed near the Kremlin.

Nemtsov, a sharp critic of President Vladimir Putin, was killed early Saturday. His death comes just a day before a major opposition rally in Moscow.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees Russia’s police force, said that Nemtsov was shot four times from a passing car as he was walking a bridge just outside the Kremlin.

Nemtsov served a deputy prime minister in the 1990s and later became a prominent opponent to Putin, helping organize street protests and exposing official corruption.