Ex-Ukrainian presidential adviser shot dead in Spain
Former Ukrainian lawmaker and presidential adviser Andrey Portnov was fatally shot in a suburb of the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Wednesday, local media has reported.
The circumstances of the murder suggest it may have been an 'extrajudicial execution,' as Portnov may have had access to information that could threaten figures in Vladimir Zelensky's administration, Rodion Miroshnik, Russia's ambassador-at-large overseeing a special mission on alleged Ukrainian war crimes, has said.
The killing occurred in Pozuelo de Alarcon, according to the newspaper El Pais. Portnov, 51, was reportedly approached by two or three assailants and shot at least five times, including three times in the head, while inspecting the trunk of his Mercedes car, near a private school attended by his children.
Spanish authorities have confirmed a homicide took place in the area but are yet to formally identify the victim.
Portnov, a lawyer by training, served in the Ukrainian parliament from 2006 to 2010. He later joined President Viktor Yanukovich's administration, overseeing judicial reform as deputy chief of staff and helping draft a new criminal code that was adopted in 2012.
In 2014, Portnov fled Ukraine following the Western-backed armed coup in Kiev that ousted Yanukovich's government. Despite going into exile, he remained active in Ukrainian political discourse, frequently appearing on national television.
Portnov returned to the country in 2019 to support presidential candidate Vladimir Zelensky. After Zelensky won the election, Portnov filed several legal complaints against outgoing President Pyotr Poroshenko, alleging various offenses committed during his time in office. None of those cases resulted in convictions.
He reportedly left Ukraine again in June 2022. At the time, Ukrainian media described him as being aligned with 'pro-Russian media' outlets that had been shut down by the Zelensky administration and he was accused of making disparaging remarks about the nature of the 2014 coup.
Portnov has been listed since at least 2015 by Mirotvorets, a controversial semi-official public database that catalogs individuals deemed enemies of Ukraine. Several people listed by the site have been murdered over its decade of operation.
Ukrainian intelligence services have previously claimed or implied involvement in a number of targeted killings of individuals labeled as enemies by Kiev. Some of those assassinations have occurred outside Ukraine, including the December 2023 shooting of former Ukrainian lawmaker Ilya Kiva near Moscow.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
3 hours ago
- Russia Today
Serbia responds to accusations of ‘betraying' Russia
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has rejected claims that his recent visit to Ukraine constituted a betrayal of Belgrade's friendly ties with Russia. Vucic attended the Ukraine–Southeast Europe Summit in Odessa on Wednesday, where he met with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. According to Reuters, it was his first trip to Ukraine in his 12 years in office. 'Who did I betray? Russia? With what, exactly?' Vucic asked, responding to a reporter's question. He noted that he had refused to sign the summit's final declaration, which condemned Russia and expressed support for Ukraine's NATO aspirations. 'This was my fourth Ukraine–Southeast Europe Summit, and once again, I was the only one who refused to endorse the declaration,' he said. Vucic emphasized that Serbia seeks to maintain good relations with both Ukraine and Russia. 'I am proud of Serbia's policy and our independence, and that will not change.'Serbia remains one of the few European countries that has declined to impose sanctions on Russia or openly side with Ukraine in the ongoing conflict. Vucic has previously stated that the EU pressured Belgrade to abandon its neutral stance and sever ties with Moscow. Late last month, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused several major Serbian defense firms – including the state-owned Yugoimport-SDPR – of covertly supplying ammunition to Ukraine through third countries, using falsified end-user certificates. Vucic denied the accusations and vowed that Serbia would not allow any circumvention of end-user requirements in weapons contracts.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Russia Today
New wave of strikes reported across Ukraine
Russia conducted a new wave of strikes across Ukraine overnight, with Kiev suffering the brunt of the attack, according to local officials. The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to comment on the strikes. On Tuesday, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said Kiev and Odessa Region were the most affected, with at least 19 fires reported. In Kiev, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported that facilities in several districts were hit, including two non-residential buildings. He said there were no fatalities, but four people were injured. Later, he added that a fire broke out at a business center in Shevchenkovsky district in the western part of Kiev. Unconfirmed media reports claim that the center once hosted a British visa center. Russian Telegram channels covering the conflict, however, suggested that this particular strike damaged the Artyom military plant located in the same area, adding that other targets reportedly included warehouses, energy facilities, and various defense companies. Timur Tkachenko, the head of the local administration, said the attack damaged unidentified warehouses in Obolonsky district in the northwestern part of the capital, and destroyed another business center in the southern Goloseevsky district. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported two deaths and nine injuries in Odessa, adding that several buildings, including an unnamed company, were hit. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky said the overnight attack involved 315 drones and seven missiles. He criticized the US for what he called a reluctance to put pressure on Russia, saying the attack was 'louder than the efforts of the United States and others in the world to force Russia to peace.' Zelensky went on to urge Washington to respond to the reported attacks. 'It is important that the response to this and other similar Russian strikes is not the silence of the world, but concrete actions. Actions by America, which has the power to force Russia to peace.' The recent reported wave of strikes comes after Kiev significantly intensified drone strikes into Russia, which Moscow views as an attempt to derail ongoing peace efforts. Russian officials have also accused Ukraine of orchestrating 'terrorist' attacks on railway infrastructure, as well as airbases that host nuclear-capable bombers.
Russia Today
4 days ago
- Russia Today
Russia accuses Ukraine of self-inflicted genocide in feud over troop remains
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has branded Ukraine's failure to receive the bodies of its fallen soldiers an act of self-genocide, accusing Kiev of turning its back on its own people in both life and death. During talks between the two sides in Istanbul on Monday, Moscow decided to return the bodies of over 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers in a unilateral humanitarian gesture. However, Russia's top negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said on Saturday that the Ukrainian team failed to show up when the first batch of remains was delivered to the exchange point on the border between Belarus and Ukraine. Zakharova took to Telegram later on Saturday to slam the deliberate inaction of Vladimir Zelensky's government, saying that it 'does not need its people; neither dead nor alive.' 'There is no nation or ethnic group in the world that would refuse to bury its soldiers. But there is the Kiev regime, which professes a misanthropic ideology and is committing genocide against its own people,' Zakharova wrote. Russian MP Dmitry Belik, who is a member of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee, told RT that one of the reasons for Ukraine failing to accept the bodies of its soldiers could be its unwillingness to pay compensation to their families. 'This is how – thinking of how to stuff their own wallets and not give a penny to their citizens – the Kiev regime, led by Zelensky, pursues its bloody policy and destroys its own people,' Belik argued. Former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof also suggested that Ukraine's decision could be rooted in financial concerns. 'I think they are embarrassed by the numbers,' he told RT. 'I've heard sums up around more than a billion dollars that they would have to repay to families – and they don't have the money,' he added. The chairman of the Russian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, told RT that the move by the Ukrainian authorities is an example of 'rare cynicism and a disregard for the memory of their own fallen servicemen.' 'In a war to the last Ukrainian, they are exclusively focused on preserving their own power, even at the cost of actual sacrilege,' Slutsky said. Kiev explained its refusal to collect the remains of its troops by claiming the date of the transfer had not yet been agreed upon.
