Reports from Russia say a prominent politician from the autonomous region of South Ossetia in Georgia has been shot dead while on a visit to the neighbouring Russian republic of North Ossetia.

He's been named as Valeriy Khubulov, a deputy prime minister in the South Ossetian government.

A group of men in camouflage jackets and masks opened fire on a car in which he and an unidentified businessman were sitting in the North Ossetian capital, Vladikavkaz.

One report says the businessman was also killed.

Federal officers from Moscow have been sent to Vladikavkaz to investigate the crime.