Pro-Russian former politician Andrii Portnov met with top Ukrainian officials on eve of his murder – UP sources
Andrii Portnov, a lawyer and court fixer who was close to the fugitive former president Viktor Yanukovych, visited Ukraine a few days before his murder in Madrid and met with Oleh Tatarov, Deputy Head of the President's Office of Ukraine, and Oleksii Sukhachov, Director of the State Bureau of Investigation.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda article Without trial or investigation. What was Andrii Portnov doing on the eve of his murder?
Details: Four independent sources have confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that Portnov was in Ukraine on 17-18 May.
The sources also said Portnov had had meetings with senior officials during that time.
Quote from the article: "During the visit, Portnov met with top officials responsible for law enforcement, including Oleh Tatarov, Deputy Head of the President's Office, and Oleksii Sukhachov, Director of the State Bureau of Investigation."
Details: However, all of the sources stated that they did not know what was discussed at these meetings.
For reference: Portnov was deputy head of the presidential administration under pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010-2014. He denied crimes committed by the security forces against participants in the Revolution of Dignity in the winter of 2013-2014 and later fled Ukraine. He returned in 2019 on the eve of the inauguration of the newly elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Portnov was also believed to be an influential fixer in the Ukrainian courts.
In 2018, criminal proceedings were opened against Portnov for treason. But in 2019, Portnov announced on Telegram that the Security Service of Ukraine had closed the criminal case against him, posting the relevant documents.
In 2019, investigative journalists released tape recordings of conversations from the office of the notorious judge Pavlo Vovk. From these conversations, the journalists extrapolated that Portnov, together with Vovk and the then head of the President's Office, Andrii Bohdan, had illegally influenced the dismissal of Stanislav Shevchuk as chairman of the Constitutional Court.
When Iryna Venediktova became prosecutor general in April 2020, Portnov blackmailed her, saying that he had compromising information about illegal activities that she was allegedly involved in.
In the same year, Oleksandr Sokolov, then acting director of the State Bureau of Investigations, admitted that there were "influential groups" within law enforcement agencies that had disclosed confidential information and key details of investigations to former officials, including Portnov.
In December 2021, the US government imposed sanctions against Andrii Portnov and his charitable foundation.
Portnov was 51.
Background: Portnov was shot dead on the morning of 21 May outside an American school in Madrid, Spain.
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