An adviser to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was fatally shot Wednesday exterior the American School of Madrid, the place a minimum of one in all his youngsters was reportedly enrolled, in line with Spanish authorities and eyewitnesses.
Andrii Portnov, 51, was shot at 9:15 a.m. (0715 GMT) as college students had been arriving, Spain’s Interior Ministry mentioned.
Portnov was a former politician tied intently to Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow president of Ukraine from 2010 till he was ousted in a preferred rebellion in 2014 after shelving plans to carry the nation nearer to the European Union and as an alternative deepen ties with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Yanukovych’s ouster in February 2014 adopted a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, with dozens of individuals killed, many by police snipers.
Portnov was deputy head of the presidential workplace in that interval and was concerned in drafting laws aimed toward punishing contributors of the rebellion. Ukrainian authorities opened a treason case in opposition to him, which was later closed, and he additionally was the topic of U.S. sanctions involving corruption in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officers didn’t instantly touch upon Portnov’s killing.
Witnesses mentioned Portnov was shot a number of occasions within the head and physique by a couple of gunman when he was getting right into a Mercedes Benz registered to him, police mentioned. The unidentified assailants then fled on foot, and native media reported police helicopters later flew over a close-by park.
Portnov died within the parking zone with a minimum of three pictures to his physique, Madrid’s emergency companies mentioned.
He had one baby enrolled on the faculty, in line with a father or mother and an uncle of scholars there who spoke with The Associated Press. The faculty declined to remark.
After fleeing Ukraine in 2014, Portnov reportedly lived in Russia in 2015 earlier than relocating to Austria. It wasn’t instantly clear when he moved to Spain.
In 2018, when pro-Western Petro Poroshenko was president of Ukraine, the nation’s Security Service, or SBU, opened an investigation in opposition to Portnov on suspicion of state treason, alleging his involvement in Russia’s unlawful annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The prison case was closed in 2019, three months after Volodymyr Zelenskyy got here to energy.
The United States imposed private sanctions on Portnov in 2021, designating him as somebody “answerable for or complicit in, or (who) has immediately or not directly engaged in, corruption, together with the misappropriation of state property, the expropriation of personal property for private achieve, corruption associated to authorities contracts or the extraction of pure assets, or bribery.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have been plenty of killings of high-profile figures linked to Moscow and Kyiv.
The killings have included Darya Dugina, the daughter of a distinguished Russian nationalist; army blogger Vladlen Tatarsky; and several other high-ranking Russian army officers. In these situations, Ukraine denied involvement.
One exception was former Ukrainian lawmaker Illia Kyva, who fled to Russia earlier than the invasion and was killed there in 2023. The SBU mentioned in a press release that its chief, Vasyl Maliuk, has mentioned the enemies of Ukraine “will certainly be held accountable for his or her crimes.”
One killing that prompted hypothesis of retaliation by Moscow was the taking pictures dying in Spain final 12 months of Russian pilot Maxim Kuzminov, who defected to Ukraine in 2023, though there was no impartial affirmation of Russia’s involvement.
Police cordoned off against the law scene in a parking zone exterior the gate of the American School of Madrid, positioned within the upscale city of Pozuelo de Alarcón, north of Madrid.
Luis Rayo, 19, who lives in a neighboring constructing, mentioned he was sleeping when he heard gunfire and went to see what occurred.
Timur Ayaokur, 17, mentioned he was 20 minutes into his firstclass when he and his classmates heard of the taking pictures. School directors instructed college students {that a} man had been shot and pronounced lifeless exterior.
“I thought it was a drill,” said Ayaokur, who is in 11th grade. “I used to be apprehensive as a result of at first I believed it is likely to be a father or mother of somebody I do know.”
His mom, Elina Ayaokur, who’s initially from Azerbaijan, mentioned she knew the sufferer by way of the emigre group however didn’t know him properly.
“I didn’t know there were Ukrainian politicians there,” Ayaokur said, adding that the victim had a son in the fourth grade. “I used to be in shock. Like how is it potential that this occurs right here?”
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Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain, and Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.
Source: www.dailysabah.com