Extrajudicial trial: ex-adviser to Yanukovych killed in Madrid

On May 21, it became known about the murder of former adviser to Viktor Yanukovych, Andrei Portnov, in Madrid. According to media reports, the man received four shots in the chest and one in the head. Details about the incident, as well as milestones in the biography of Andrei Portnov, can be found in the Izvestia article.

The murder of Andrei Portnov in Madrid: the latest news

Andrei Portnov, an ex-adviser to former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, was shot dead near Madrid on Tuesday morning, May 21. This is reported by Spanish radio Cadena SER.

The murder occurred around 9:15 a.m., when he brought his children to school. A passerby reported an emergency to the police when he saw the man lying dead in the middle of the street.

According to media reports, 52-year-old Portnov suffered four gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the head. Doctors arrived and pronounced the ex-adviser of Yanukovych dead. The crime occurred in the town of Pozuelo de Alarcón near the entrance to the local school.

Police sources say that the killer was waiting for the victim on a motorcycle at the school gates. When Portnov drove up, the attacker shot at him, after which he quickly disappeared. According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, two or three people took part in Portnov's murder, but there are no detainees yet.

Who is Andrei Portnov, who was killed in Madrid, versions

Andrey Portnov is known as an experienced lawyer, one of the co—authors of the laws against the Euromaidan protests in 2014, and a former member of the Verkhovna Rada.

As an adviser to Yanukovych in the presidential administration, he was responsible for the courts and the law enforcement system. After Euromaidan, he was in exile, but returned to Ukraine in 2019, the day before the inauguration of Vladimir Zelensky.

Portnov sharply criticized the activities of structures associated with the Democratic Party of the United States. In 2021, after Biden came to power, the United States imposed personal sanctions on Portnov.

Later, he became a person of interest in the investigation on charges of high treason, and the Ukrainian special services began investigating him for links with Russia.

It is also known that the ex-adviser to Yanukovych was blacklisted by the European Union (EU) for allegedly misuse of state funds and human rights violations in Ukraine.

In recent years, according to the Ukrainian newspaper Strana, Portnov has lived abroad and won trials from a number of media outlets and public organizations (mostly also associated with the US Democratic Party), who called him "pro-Russian." He conducted his own investigation of many aspects of the activities of ex-President Petro Poroshenko.

Andrey Portnov has six children from different marriages. Adopted son Igor, 32, and daughter Lidia, 31, as well as 13-year-old Varvara, 11-year-old Ulyana, six-year-old Vasilisa and three-year-old Mikhail.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large Rodion Miroshnik, Andrei Portnov was an influential official under Yanukovych and could have information dangerous to someone from Zelensky's entourage or himself.

He pointed out that the murder has similarities to an "extrajudicial execution." At the same time, in the absence of a connection between the crime and the Zelensky regime, according to him, "it's hard to believe."