Cliff Notes
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Andriy Portnov, a former aide to Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovich, was shot and killed in Madrid while reportedly taking his children to school.
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The attack involved multiple assailants who shot Portnov in the back and head before fleeing towards a nearby forest; police responded shortly after the incident was reported.
- Portnov had been living in exile since 2014 and faced a state treason investigation in Ukraine related to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which was later closed.
Former Ukrainian politician living abroad shot dead on school run | World News
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A man who served as an aide to a former Ukrainian president has been shot and killed in Madrid, local authorities have said.
Unidentified gunmen shot former politician Andriy Portnov, 51, outside the gates of the American School of Madrid in the Pozuelo area of the Spanish capital on Wednesday morning, according to a source close to the investigation.
“Several persons shot him in the back and the head”, according to an Interior Ministry source, before they “fled towards a forest area”.
Police received the report at 9.15am local time and rushed to Calle America, where Mr Portnov is believed to have been taking his children to school, radio station Cadena SER said.
Emergency service vehicles and a police cordon were pictured at the scene.
Mr Portnov served as a senior aide to Ukraine‘s former president Viktor Yanukovich before he was ousted in 2014.
The pro-Russian leader was driven out by Ukraine’s 2014 Orange Revolution – and has been living in exile in Russia ever since.
After fleeing Ukraine in 2014, Mr Portnov is believed to have lived briefly in Russia before moving to Austria. It is not known when he moved to Spain.
Ukraine’s secret security service opened a state treason investigation into him in 2018 over claims he was involved in Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 – but closed it in 2019.
Since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, crimes have been committed against several high-profile Russians and Ukrainians in Spain, which has large ex-pat populations from both countries.
In November and December 2022, six letter bombs were sent to targets across the country, to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid, as well as its US counterpart.
A 76-year-old retired Spanish civil servant was jailed over the offences after his social media searches suggested he was sympathetic towards Russia’s invasion.
In April that year, a Russian businessman linked to the country’s Novatek gas company was found dead with his wife and daughter, having all sustained stab wounds.
In February last year, a Russian pilot who defected to the Ukrainian side was found dead with gunshot wounds in the car park of his apartment near Alicante.
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