51-year-old Andriy Portnov, a former Ukrainian politician, was shot and killed outside The American School of Madrid Monday morning. The incident occurred shortly after 9:15 a.m. local time as he was getting into a car, when multiple assailants approached him and opened fire. Photo courtesy of Microsoft Defending Against Assailants The assailants fled the scene into a nearby wooded area, triggering an instant response from local law enforcement.
Lawyer by profession, Portnov had worked as a senior aide of pro-Russian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. He held the position of deputy head of Yanukovych’s administration from 2010 until it was ousted in Ukraine’s pro-democracy uprising in 2014. After his time in parliament, Portnov served as head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate for Judicial Reform and the Judiciary.
Following Ukraine’s Maidan revolution in 2014, Portnov was hounded from the country by intense legal and political pressure. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him in 2021 under the Magnitsky Act, citing that he had been “credibly accused of using his influence to buy access and decisions in Ukraine’s courts and undermining reform efforts.” Canada soon followed suit in 2014, imposing sanctions against individuals as one part of a wider clampdown on corrupt foreign officials. As a direct result of these sanctions, Portnov’s assets were frozen by the U.S. government.
Portnov escaped from Ukraine just a few months after Russia had begun its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. He had moved to Spain where his kids were going to The American School of Madrid. Her tragic shooting by a Russian agent has drawn attention to the safety of those like her, exiled from Russia and other politically tumultuous areas.
Witnesses to the incident heard multiple rounds of gunfire as it took place. Yet, the pandemonium that ensued prevented them from accurately identifying the attackers. As this post was being published, law enforcement officials were still investigating the shooting and had not released information about motive or suspects.
The shooting has shocked the local community and raised questions regarding security for individuals with controversial political backgrounds living abroad. In response to this act, law enforcement have stepped up patrols around all local schools.
