James Waterhouse
BBC Ukraine correspondent
Europa Press via Getty Images
The murder of Andriportnov on the outskirts of Madrid shocked the Ukrainians, but it did not exactly cause the pouring of grief.
The controversial former officer had just dropped his child at an American school when he was shot several times in the parking lot.
Images of his lifeless body lie towards the gym kit.
Ukrainian media have discussed the frequent threats of 51-year-old to journalists and his major impact under the country’s last pro-Russian president, Viktor Janukovich.
“The man who sought to kill his political enemy had suddenly got what he wanted from others,” reporter Oleksandr Holbov observed. News website Ukrayinska Pravda even called him “the devil’s defender.”
The rare word of restraint comes from the MP, who was Portnov’s former political rival Serhee Vlasenko.
Portnov was controversial and widely disliked. His motive for his murder may seem obvious, but his death still leaves unanswered questions.
“Kingpin”
Before entering Ukrainian politics, Portnov ran a law firm. He worked with then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko until 2010 before fleding to Janukovich’s camp when he won the election.
“It was a big story of betrayal,” recalls Ukrainian journalist Christina Berdynskik. “Because Tymoshenko was a Western politician and Yanukovych Pro-Russian.”
EPA
Portnov was working closely with then Prime Minister Tymoshenko
The advisor became the first deputy director of the Presidential Office and established the National Criminal Code in 2012. His critics say his rise was more about power and influence than about politics.
“He was just a good lawyer. Everyone knew he was very clever,” Christina tells me.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Ukraine inherited the judicial system in a desperate need for reform. Mykhailo Zhernakov, a legal expert and head of the Dejure Foundation, believes that Portnov has improved it in order to hide the illegal schemes and hide attempts to control the Russian country.
“He was the kingpin, mastermind and architect of this corrupt legal system, which was then designed to serve the pro-Russian regime,” he says.
“Rotten System”
For more than a decade, Portnov sued journalists who wrote negative stories about him through the courts and judges he controlled. His attempts to control the judicial system would lead to him being approved by the United States.
At the time, Washington accused the adviser of placing loyal officials in senior positions for his own interests, and accused him of “purchase a court decision.”
Portonov was forced to chase after activists who later participated in the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, defeating Victor Janukovich from power and fleeing him to Russia.
“He used sexual threats,” says Oksana Romaniuk, who remembers his interactions with her and other journalist Portnovwell.
As director of the Institute for Popular Information, she monitors Ukraine’s freedom of speech.
Whenever a terrible report was published, the response was familiar and consistent. “When people exposed his corruption, he accused them of fake news,” she says.
“It was impossible for journalists to win a lawsuit in court, even if they had documents or testimony to support the allegations. It was impossible to protect yourself. It was a rotten system.”
Reuters
Portnov(R) has become an integral part of Viktor Yanukovych’s presidential team
Andriy Portnov eventually settled in Moscow in 2014 after the old boss Yanukovych escaped. Investigative reporter Maksym Savchuk has since looked into his relationship with Moscow and his extensive real estate portfolio there.
“He answered with words I didn’t want to quote, with some dim-like words about my mother,” he remembers. “That’s a trait of his personality. He’s a very vindictive person.”
Even after leaving Ukraine, Portnov tried to influence Ukrainian politics by controlling the Prokremlin television channel news.
He returned in 2019, but only to escape again in a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Portnov’s irony eventually settled in Spain and sending his children to an honorable American school has not been lost to many.
In addition to the unrevealed joy of Portnov’s death, there was endless speculation as to who was responsible.
“It could have been Russian because he knew so much,” suggests legal expert Mykhailo Zhernakov.
“He was involved in so many shady Russian operations, so it could be them and other criminal groups. He could plague a lot of people,” he says.
EPA
Despite the fact that the motivations are becoming more clear on this side of the border, Ukrainian security sources seem to be trying to distance themselves from the killings.
Kiev previously assassinated in Russian occupied territories and in Russia itself, but not in Spain.
Spanish media reports suggest that his murder was not political, but more than “economic reasons and revenge.”
“I can imagine how many people will need to interrogate to narrow down the suspects,” Maskym Savchuk thinks. “Because this person has a thousand enemies.”
In Ukraine, Portonov is considered the person who helped Russia form the basis of its invasion. The general dislike for him once has only been strengthened since 2022.
Nevertheless, Mykhailo Zhernakov hopes that his death will also be an opportunity for wider judicial reform.
“Just because he’s gone doesn’t mean he has an influence,” he warns. “Because a lot of the people he appointed or helped him get the job are still in the system.”
Additional report by Hanna Chornous.
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