The Georgian Foreign Ministry “condemned appalling” murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in Moscow center close to the Kremlin late on Friday night.

“Investigation should be carried out promptly, transparently and perpetrators should be brought to justice,” Georgian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, Davit Kereselidze, said.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili said he’s “shocked” by murder of Nemtsov, “who tirelessly fought for protection of freedom.”

PM Irakli Garibashvili “strongly condemned” murder of “one of the prominent Russian politicians” and said in a statement that he’s “shocked by this appalling tragedy.”

Georgian parliament speaker, Davit Usupashvili, said in a statement: “Boris Nemtsov was a politician, whose efforts at all stages of his life were directed towards better, democratic Russia.”

Usupashvili also said that Nemtsov’s death is “a loss for the Russian people and their better future, for his family, friends and colleagues and for the entire democratic world.”

“I hope that this appalling murder will be investigated promptly and objectively and perpetrators brought to justice,” Usupashvili said.
 
Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is an adviser to Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, told CNN that he had a lunch with Nemtsov last week in Kiev. He said that Nemtsov wanted to meet him because he was preparing a report on Ukraine as he was trying “to reach out to the Russian public and tell them the truth about what’s happening in Ukraine.”
 
“I am not surprised at all that he was killed; I am surprised that he was not killed until now, because you are dealing here with mafia state,” Saakashvili said. “The whole climate existing there makes it almost impossible for people like Nemtsov to walk around freely and to walk around alive unfortunately.”

“Putin came with violence, rules with violence and will end in violence,” Saakashvili said.