Who is Andriy Porntnov? Former Ukrainian politician killed on school run in Spain

A former Ukrainian politician and key aide to the ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych has been killed.

Andriy Portnov, 51, was gunned down on Wednesday morning outside the gates of the American School in Madrid's affluent neighbourhood of Pozuelo.

Police received the call about the shooting at 9.15 am local time. Radio station Cadena SER said the man was taking his children to school when he was shot.

Mr Portnov, from the eastern region of Luhansk, is a former Ukrainian politician closely tied to Yanukovych, having served as deputy head of the presidential office from 2010 to 2014.

Yanukovych was Ukraine’s last pro-Russian president, who was ousted in 2014, following pro-democracy and pro-European Union protests, after he refused to sign an EU association pact, choosing instead to do an energy deal with Russia.

During Yanukovych's presidency, Portnov was widely viewed as a pro-Kremlin political figure and was involved in drafting legislation, known as the “laws of January 16”, which were aimed at persecuting participants of the 2014 revolution in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian media, he later denied a role in their development but admitted to approving them for the then-president’s signature.

When Yanukovych fled Ukraine for Moscow that same year, effectively ending his premiership, Portnov reportedly followed him to the Russian capital.

Portnov then faced numerous investigations and sanctions against him, both from Ukraine and the European Union.

Ukraine’s interior ministry labelled him a wanted person in 2015 but dropped the accusations a year later. The Council of the European Union slapped personal sanctions against him, along with 18 other associates of Yanukovych, but these were also later dropped due to a lack of evidence.

He moved to Vienna, Austria, a year later, before eventually returning to Ukraine, where he ran a TV show criticising the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, the billionaire who assumed office after Yanukovych was ousted.

In 2018, Ukraine's Security Service, or SBU, opened an investigation against him on suspicion of state treason, alleging his involvement in Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The criminal case was closed in 2019, and Portnov filed his own lawsuit demanding the allegations against him be treated as false.

But in 2021, the US state department announced sweeping sanctions against Portnov, describing him as a “court fixer”.

“Widely known as a court fixer, Portnov was credibly accused of using his influence to buy access and decisions in Ukraine’s courts and undermining reform efforts,” the department said in a statement.

“As of 2019, Portnov took steps to control the Ukrainian judiciary, influence associated legislation, sought to place loyal officials in senior judiciary positions, and purchase court decisions.”

They added that they believed Portnov had colluded with a high-ranking Ukrainian government official to shape the country’s legal institutions to their advantage and influence Ukraine’s Constitutional Court. He was also reportedly involved in an attempt to influence the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General.