Madrid: Authorities Investigate ‘Score Settling’ in Andriy Portnov’s Assassination

Ongoing police investigations surround the assassination of the former Ukrainian pro-Russian politician Andriy Portnov, who was shot multiple times in the back and head on Wednesday (May 21, 2025). The scenario pointing to a settling of scores within organized crime circles is currently the most prevalent following the killing of Portnov in Madrid. However, authorities have not yet ruled out ‘political motives’ behind the crime. Portnov was fatally shot in the upscale suburb of Pozuelo de Alarcón. He previously served as deputy chief of staff for Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted during the Euromaidan uprising in 2014. Portnov became the target of international sanctions in 2014 due to his role in suppressing the democratic protests violently under Yanukovych’s regime. Both Yanukovych and Portnov fled to Austria at the time. In 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed new sanctions on Portnov for activities upon his return to Ukraine in 2019, just before Volodymyr Zelenskyy assumed the presidency. According to OFAC, Portnov cultivated extensive connections with Ukraine’s judicial system and law enforcement through bribery, using his influence to buy access to the judiciary, sway court decisions, shape legislation, and secure appointments of loyal officials in high judicial positions, undermining reform efforts in Ukraine. Media reports indicate that Portnov managed to leave Ukraine in June 2022 despite the ongoing Russian invasion and near-universal ban on men aged 18-60 leaving the country. A Spanish police source stated that while considering Portnov’s profile, an organized crime-related murder remains the likeliest scenario. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has either claimed or been blamed for several assassinations in Russia or occupied territories targeting political and military figures supporting Moscow’s war effort. However, no such killings have occurred outside this zone until now. Several other assassinations linked internationally to Russia include the murder of a Russian pilot who defected with his helicopter to Ukraine and was killed in Spain in February 2024.