Adviser to ex-Ukrainian president Yanukovych shot dead outside school in Spain

An adviser to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was shot dead when gunmen targeted him outside the American School of Madrid, Spanish authorities have said.

Andrii Portnov, 51, was identified as the victim by Spain’s Interior Ministry.

He was shot at 9.15am local time (0815 BST), authorities said, after apparently dropping his children off for class.

Witnesses reported that Mr Portnov was shot “several times” in the head and body by more than one gunman when he was getting into his car, a black Mercedes-Benz, police said.

The assailants then fled on foot.

Madrid’s emergency services said that he was found dead when medics arrived with at least three shots to his body.

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

During Mr Yanukovych’s presidency, Mr Portnov was widely viewed as a pro-Russia political figure and was involved in drafting legislation aimed at persecuting participants of the 2014 revolution in Ukraine.

Luis Rayo, 19, who lives in a building next to the school, said that he was sleeping when he heard the sound of gunfire.

“I heard five bullets and then came here to see what happened,” Mr Rayo said.

Police cordoned off a crime scene in a car park around 150 metres (500ft) outside the gate of the American School of Madrid, located in the upscale Pozuelo de Alarcon neighbourhood north of the city centre.

Parents told The Associated Press that Mr Portnov had children studying at the private school.

The school declined to confirm whether his children were enrolled.

Timur Ayaokur, 17, said he was 20 minutes into his first class of the day when he and his classmates heard of the shooting.

After a few minutes, the school’s administrators told students that a man had been shot and pronounced dead outside.

“I thought it was a drill,” Ayaokur said of the initial announcement.

“I was worried because at first I thought it might be a parent of someone I know.”

His mother Elina Ayaokur, originally from Azerbaijan, said she knew the victim through the Russian community though she did not know him well.

“I didn’t know there were Ukrainian politicians there,” Ayaokur said, adding that the victim had a son in the fourth grade.

“I was in shock, like how is it possible that this happens here?” Ayaokur said.

After fleeing Ukraine in 2014, Mr Portnov reportedly lived in Russia in 2015 before relocating to Austria.

It was not immediately clear when he moved to Spain.

In 2018, Ukraine’s Security Service (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.

In 2021, the United States imposed personal sanctions on Mr Portnov, designating him as someone “responsible for or complicit in, or (who) has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery”.