MADRID: A US-sanctioned Ukrainian ex-MP and senior aide to the country's former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was shot dead near Madrid on Wednesday, a Spanish police source said. Officers rushed to the upmarket town of Pozuelo de Alarcon where several people shot a man in the back and head as he prepared to climb into a vehicle, the source said, identifying the victim as Andriy Portnov.
The shooters then fled from the scene towards a wooded area, the source added, saying the attack struck outside an American private school at around 9:15 am. Madrid emergency services found a dead man sprawled on the pavement near the school with at least three gunshot wounds, spokeswoman Encarna Fernandez told reporters at the scene.
Spanish media reported the victim had just dropped off his children at the school before he was killed. Armed police had cordoned off the area and a forensics team was collecting fingerprints from a black Mercedes. Portnov was a lawmaker in the 2000s and became deputy head of the presidential administration under Yanukovych, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, before fleeing to Russia in 2014 after cracking down on pro-EU protests in Ukraine.
Portnov lived in Russia and Austria before returning to his home country following the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The United States imposed sanctions on him in 2021 for alleged corruption, saying he had used his influence in the judiciary and law enforcement to buy access in Ukrainian courts and undermine reform efforts. He was also known in Ukraine for insulting and threatening journalists, as well as filing numerous lawsuits against media professionals.
Ukrainian authorities had not commented on the incident, but a military intelligence official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Portnov had been shot dead. Ukraine has claimed or been linked with several assassinations in Russia and Moscow-occupied parts of Ukraine since the start of the attack in 2022, targeting political or military officials or ideological supporters of the war.
El Pais daily reported that Spanish intelligence sources had "no doubt that the long arm of the Kremlin was behind this unprecedented crime". Spain hosts more than 300,000 Ukrainians, most of them beneficiaries of temporary protection granted after they fled the Russian attack, according to government data. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
