Did Russian secret services assassinate Andriy Portnov in Madrid? A crime with political echoes

Andriy Portnov, a controversial 51-year-old former Ukrainian official and former adviser to former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, was shot dead Wednesday morning in front of the exclusive American School of Pozuelo de Alarcon, in Madrid, Spain after dropping off two of his daughters at the school. The crime, executed with precision by two or three attackers who fled into a wooded area, has shocked the local community and sparked speculation about a possible political background linked to tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

It is not ruled out that the crime was perpetrated by the Russian secret services.

A cold-blooded murder

The Argentine news portal Infobae indicated that the attack occurred around 9:15 a.m., when Portnov, dressed in sportswear, was about to get into his high-end black Mercedes after accompanying his daughters to school. According to eyewitnesses, including several parents at the center, the assailants shot at least five times at point-blank range. Three bullets struck Portnov's body, one of them in the back of the head, causing instant death. Emergency services noted that he received wounds to the head, abdomen and side.

No arrests have been made so far.

Spanish authorities have opened an investigation, which points to a possible political motive due to the victim's profile.

Who was Andriy Portnov?

Born in 1973 in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, Andriy Portnov was a key figure in the regime of Viktor Yanukovych between 2010 and 2014, serving as deputy head of the Presidential Administration and head of judicial affairs, Ukrainian newspaper Kiev Independent reported.

Considered the architect of Yanukovych's corrupt judicial system, Portnov influenced the appointment of judges and led the drafting of the 2012 Criminal Procedure Code, criticized for hindering fair trials and anti-corruption investigations. His role during the Euromaidan protests (2013-2014) against Yanukovych's pro-Russian policies, which culminated in the fall of the president, was particularly controversial.

Portnov was singled out as one of the driving forces behind the January 16, 2014 laws, which restricted fundamental rights such as freedom of demonstration and control over media and NGOs, sparking a wave of public outrage, the media outlet added.

After Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014, Portnov left Ukraine, settling first in Moscow and then in Vienna, Austria. In 2018, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) investigated him for alleged treason linked to Russia's annexation of Crimea, although the case was shelved. He also faced sanctions from the European Union (EU) and Canada in 2014 for alleged embezzlement and human rights violations, but these were overturned in 2015 by the EU Court of Justice for lack of sufficient evidence. In 2021, the United States sanctioned him under the Magnitsky Act for allegations of corruption and influence peddling in the Ukrainian judicial system.

Portnov, a lawyer with a doctorate in law and a university professor in Kiev, was perceived as a skilled jurist by some, but as a symbol of the Yanukovych regime's excesses by others. In recent years, according to the UkraineWorld collective, he is said to have tried to discredit the Revolution of Dignity - the Ukrainian nationalist and pro-European movement that emerged after the rupture of the association agreement with the EU - through disinformation campaigns with bots on social networks. In addition, Ukrainian journalistic investigations revealed that his family owned property in Moscow is linked to close associates of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reinforcing accusations of his pro-Russian affinity.

A crime with geopolitical implications

Portnov's murder adds to a string of violent incidents in Spain related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict since the Russian invasion of 2022. In February 2024, Russian defector pilot Maxim Kuzminov was found dead with gunshot wounds in Alicante, and in April 2022, Russian oligarch Serguéi Protosenya was found dead from an apparent suicide with his family in Lloret de Mar, Girona.

Ukrainian sources consulted by the Spanish newspaper El Pais do not rule out that Portnov's murder is the work of Russian secret services in a false flag operation aimed at framing Ukraine, although Spanish authorities are keeping all hypotheses open.

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a deputy of the pro-European Holos party, told the Kyiv Independent that Portnov acted in Russia's interests, either as a "useful idiot" or as a paid agent.