Madrid, Spain
CNN
–
Former Ukrainian politician Andri Portonov, who worked as a senior aide to former Russian president, Viktor Janukovich, was shot and killed outside a school near the Spanish capital, Madrid, Spanish national police sources told CNN.
Portnov, 51, a lawyer and former MP, was deputy chief of the Yanukovic regime before being banished in the 2014 democratic uprising in Ukraine.
According to Spanish police sources, he was shot several times Wednesday as he was in the car around 9:15am local time (3:15am ET). Various assailants shot him in the back and in the head, then later escaped to an area with the forest, sources said.
The shooting took place outside an American school in Madrid, in Pozuelo de Araracon, a wealthy suburb just west of Madrid.
The school sent various urgent messages to parents after the incident. The incident took place shortly after school dropouts, saying that all students are safe and that the victim is considered to be the student’s father. Police have closed areas outside of elite schools with more than 1,000 students from the United States, Spain and dozens of other countries.
Portnov was approved by the US in 2021 for corruption and bribery under Magnitsky Act. According to the US Treasury Department, he was “accused of being trusted of using his influence by purchasing access and decisions in Ukrainian courts and eroding reform efforts.”
The Magnitsky Act, signed into law in December 2012, blocks entry into the United States and freezes the assets of certain Russian and Russian government officials and businessmen accused of human rights abuses.
Ukrainian security services previously investigated the possibility of Portnov being involved in Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but the incident was later closed.
The former politician fled Ukraine months after Russia began a full-scale invasion in February 2022. According to a RadioFreeEurope/Radio Liberty survey, men in the draft age were not allowed to leave.
Canada also frozen his assets in 2014 as part of crackdowns on “corrupted foreign authorities.”
Portnov was appointed vice-chief of the Yanukovic administration in 2010 and was appointed as the main director of Ukraine’s judicial reform and the judicial system. At the same time, Portnov became a member of the board of directors of the National Bank of Ukraine.
Yanukovych was appointed in 2014 by a massive demonstration in Ukraine after turning his back on the European Union in favor of close ties with Russia.
Later, Yanukovic fled Ukraine for Russia, along with Portonov and other high-level former staff, in the wake of the protests of democracy, pro-European Maidan in 2014. Portonov later returned to Ukraine in 2019.
Ukraine itself did not impose sanctions on Portnov.
In December 2024, domestic media and civil society organisations launched a petition calling for sanctions against him, underlining concerns that they were chasing key journalists with litigation and threats, claiming ongoing corruption aimed at controlling Ukrainian judiciary. Portnov has released personal data from several members of the RFE/RL-run research journalism project, which was being considered for dealing with the Ukrainian government.
The petition collected 25,000 signatures, but the Ukrainian minister’s cabinet rejected it, citing inadequate grounds for sanctions.
Portonov is not the only ally of former Ukrainian president Yanukovich, who was killed after being expelled from power.
In 2015, CNN reported on two famous gunfire deaths in the Ukrainian capital. This is one of the former lawmakers with ties to Yanukovich, another Ukrainian journalist known for his Russian views.
At the time, these murders updated speculation about a conspiracy to kill people near Janukovich.
Spain has also experienced a recent range of targeted attacks related to the Russian-Ukraine war, with a considerable group of expatriates from both countries.
An explosion occurred at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid in 2022, injuring a Ukrainian employee who was handling a letter to Kiev’s ambassador to Spain, officials said.
Other letter bombs followed, including those sent to the Spanish Prime Minister. A Spanish man was eventually arrested for a bomb. The judge said it was intended to disrupt public peace and put pressure on Spain to curb support for Ukraine.
Spain has provided humanitarian and military support to Ukraine since its invasion.
In 2024, a Russian pilot was found who died dramatically in Ukraine after being shot in the parking garage of an apartment building before flying a helicopter in Alicante, Spain.
