Pro-Russian public figure Portnov coordinated case concerning alleged treason of Ukraine's 5th president

Yahoo

4 days ago

Ukrainska Pravda has reported that Andrii Portnov, a shadow handler of the courts and a lawyer close to the fugitive former president Viktor Yanukovych, has been coordinating investigators since December 2021 in the so-called "coal case" concerning the alleged treason of the fifth president, Petro Poroshenko.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda article Without trial or investigation. What was Andrii Portnov doing on the eve of his murder?
Details: The case was formally investigated by the State Bureau of Investigations under the leadership of Oleksii Sukhachov. However, as Ukrainska Pravda said, it was Portnov who coordinated the investigators' actions from the moment the case was activated at the end of 2021.
This refers to a scheme first exposed by Ukrainska Pravda in 2016, whereby coal from occupied mines in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts was brought into Ukraine instead of coal from South Africa. Petro Poroshenko and Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian businessman and pro-Russian politician who is also known for his connections to Putin, were named as the initiators.
After years of stagnation and imitation of investigative actions, the investigation suddenly intensified immediately after a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council, which approved sanctions against several political figures, including Petro Poroshenko.
One of Ukrainska Pravda sources, familiar with the case, explained: "Portnov has been seeking personal revenge for years. His main target has always been Poroshenko – a political antagonist and a man who did not keep his promise to him at the time. The 'coal case' became his personal project."
Quote from the article: "It was the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv – a key link in Portnov's vertical structure – that limited the time the defence had to study the case materials, which, according to Poroshenko's lawyer Illia Novikov, was a tool of pressure."
Details: Despite the fact that the court that will hear the case has not yet been determined, Ukrainska Pravda sources indicate that control over its progress remains in the hands of the same judicial vertical formed by Portnov.
Poroshenko's team also names Portnov as the main initiator and curator of most cases involving the fifth president.
Previously:
Portnov was shot dead on the morning of 21 May near an American school in Madrid, Spain.
Ukrainska Pravda reported that Andrii Portnov visited Ukraine a few days before his murder in Madrid. There he met with Oleh Tatarov, Deputy Head of the President's Office of Ukraine, and Oleksii Sukhachov, Director of the State Bureau of Investigation.
Background:
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in an evening address on 12 February 2025 that the National Security and Defence Council would impose new sanctions but did not name any names.
Sources close to Ukraine's fifth president and current MP, Petro Poroshenko of the European Solidarity party, and the National Security and Defence Council told Ukrainska Pravda that Poroshenko was among those targeted by the sanctions.
The fifth president of Ukraine called the sanctions against him a colossal blow to internal unity.
On 13 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the NSDC's decision of 12 February to impose sanctions.
In May, Ukrainska Pravda learned that the investigation against Poroshenko in the so-called "coal case" had been completed and that he was charged with high treason. The question of which court will hear the case is currently being decided.
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