MOSCOW, July 20 (RAPSI) – The police in Kiev have initiated a criminal case over the death of a prominent journalist Pavel Sheremet in a car explosion they said was a “premeditated murder,” RIA Novosti news agency reports on Wednesday.

The information collected in relation to this fact has been registered with a police directorate in Kiev. “Preliminary, investigators define this act as a premeditated murder. A prejudicial inquiry has been launched,” – a police statement reads.

Pavel Sheremet is a prominent Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian journalist. For more than 10 years he had worked for Russian TV. Last five years the journalist lived in Kiev contributing to Ukrainskaya Pravda online media outlet and Radio Vesti station.