Moscow  - Pro-Kremlin lawmaker and former Chechen fighter Ruslan Yamadayev was shot dead in an apparent contract killing in central Moscow on Wednesday, Russian news agencies reported.

"At 17:20 an unknown man approached the car at the red traffic light, shot Yamadaev and injured the other passenger," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Ruslan Yamadayev was one of three brothers who fought against the Kremlin during the first Chechen war before changing sides. They have since been awarded national honours by former president Vladimir Putin for their service during wars in the early 1990s.

Ruslan's brother Sulim Yamadayev was commander of Vostok, the pro- Kremlin Chechen troop battalion, before being relieved of his post last month amid an investigation into the kidnapping and murder of a Chechen businessman.

Russian newspapers reported in April that Yamadayev's Vostok had clashed with Chechenya's Kremlin-appointed president Ramzan Kadyrov's security forces. Russian military officials denied the shootout between the rival pro-Kremlin forces.

Sulim Yamadayev commanded Vostok troops in Russia's war with Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia last month. (dpa)