The body of 51-year-old Yevgeny Kaprov, who owned an air cargo and freight company, was found in his car on Friday with head injuries. The businessman was a resident of Sharjah, the Gulf state's third largest city.
The businessman's wife called police on Friday after her husband failed to return home.
Officers are searching for five suspects.
This is the second reported murder of a Russian national in the United Arab Emirates in the past two months.
Dubai police say Sulim Yamadayev, who led a battalion in Chechnya, was shot dead in a car park near his luxury apartment on March 28, and have accused a senior Chechen politician of organizing the killing. However, Yamadayev's brother Isa insists that Sulim survived the assassination attempt, and is still alive.