Media reports former Ukrainian presidential adviser murdered in Spain
(MENAFN) Former Ukrainian lawmaker and presidential adviser Andrey Portnov was reportedly shot and killed on Wednesday in a suburb of Madrid, Spain, according to local media outlets. The incident, which took place in Pozuelo de Alarcon, is being investigated as a possible targeted execution.
Portnov, 51, was allegedly approached by two or three attackers while checking the trunk of his Mercedes near a private school attended by his children. He was shot at least five times, including three shots to the head, according to a report by El Pais. Spanish authorities have confirmed a homicide occurred but have not yet officially named the victim.
Rodion Miroshnik, a Russian diplomat leading a mission on alleged Ukrainian war crimes, suggested the killing may have been an “extrajudicial execution,” claiming Portnov possibly held sensitive information that could endanger members of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s administration.
Portnov, a lawyer by profession, served in Ukraine’s parliament between 2006 and 2010. He later worked under President Viktor Yanukovich as deputy chief of staff, where he played a key role in judicial reform and helped draft Ukraine’s 2012 criminal code.
Following the 2014 coup that removed Yanukovich, Portnov fled Ukraine but remained involved in political discourse through frequent media appearances. In 2019, he returned to support then-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky. After Zelensky’s victory, Portnov filed several legal cases against outgoing President Pyotr Poroshenko, although none led to convictions.
He reportedly left Ukraine again in mid-2022. Ukrainian media described him as a figure aligned with “pro-Russian media” outlets later banned by the Zelensky government. He was also critical of the 2014 coup, referring to it in disparaging terms.
Portnov had been listed since 2015 in the Mirotvorets database—a controversial semi-official Ukrainian platform that labels individuals as enemies of the state. Several people named on the site have been murdered over the years.
Ukrainian intelligence agencies have previously been linked to targeted assassinations of individuals labeled as traitors, even outside Ukraine. Notably, former Ukrainian MP Ilya Kiva was shot dead near Moscow in December 2023 in a killing Ukrainian officials implied involvement in.
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