Giorgi Mebonia, the governor of the Tsalenjikha district of Georgia, has been killed in an attack close to the border with Abkhazia.
Mebonia was on an tour of villages in the area with an European Union monitoring team.
Three Georgian policemen were also injured in the attack, on Saturday.
Officials said that shooting had been reported after a land mine was detonated.
A police officer travelling with the group told Russian television that shots came without warning "from the Russian side".