Spanish authorities mentioned that an advisor to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was shot useless on Wednesday when gunmen focused him outdoors the American Faculty of Madrid.
Andrii Portnov, 51, was recognized because the sufferer by Spain’s Inside Ministry. He was shot at 9:15 a.m. native time (0715 GMT), authorities mentioned, after apparently dropping his youngsters off for sophistication.
Witnesses reported that Portnov was shot “a number of instances” within the head and physique by a couple of gunman when he was moving into his automotive, a black Mercedes Benz, police mentioned. The assailants then fled on foot.
Madrid’s emergency companies mentioned that he was discovered useless when medics arrived with not less than three photographs to his physique.
Portnov is a former Ukrainian politician intently tied to Yanukovych, having served as deputy head of the presidential workplace from 2010 to 2014.
Throughout Yanukovych’s presidency, Portnov was broadly considered as a pro-Russia political determine and was concerned in drafting laws aimed toward persecuting contributors of the 2014 revolution in Ukraine.
Luis Rayo, 19, who lives in a constructing subsequent to the college, mentioned that he was sleeping when he heard the sound of gunfire.
“I heard 5 bullets after which got here right here to see what occurred,” Rayo mentioned.
Police cordoned off against the law scene in a parking zone round 150 metres (500 toes) outdoors the gate of the American Faculty of Madrid, situated within the upscale Pozuelo de Alarcón neighborhood north of town heart.
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Dad and mom instructed The Related Press that Portnov had youngsters finding out on the non-public faculty. The college declined to substantiate whether or not his youngsters have been enrolled.
Timur Ayaokur, 17, mentioned he was 20 minutes into his first-class of the day when he and his classmates heard of the taking pictures. After a couple of minutes, the college’s directors instructed college students {that a} man had been shot and pronounced useless outdoors.
“I assumed it was a drill,” Ayaokur, who’s in eleventh grade, mentioned of the preliminary announcement. “I used to be anxious as a result of at first I assumed it could be a mother or father of somebody I do know.”
His mom Elina Ayaokur, initially from Azerbaijan, mentioned she knew the sufferer by way of the Russian neighborhood although she didn’t know him nicely.
“I didn’t know there have been Ukrainian politicians there,” Ayaokur mentioned, including that the sufferer had a son within the 4th grade.
“I used to be in shock, like how is it potential that this occurs right here?” Ayaokur mentioned.
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, Ukraine’s Safety Service, or SBU, opened an investigation towards him on suspicion of state treason, alleging his involvement in Russia’s unlawful annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The felony case was closed in 2019.
In 2021, the USA imposed private sanctions on Portnov, designating him as somebody “liable 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 acquire, corruption associated to authorities contracts or the extraction of pure assets, or bribery.”
—Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. Illia Novikov contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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