Spain rejects Ukraine's bid for joint probe into pro-Russian politician Portnov's murder – UP sources

Spanish law enforcement has declined Ukraine’s proposal to form a joint task force to investigate the murder of Andrii Portnov, a lawyer and influential figure linked to Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian former president of Ukraine who fled the country after the Revolution of Dignity in 2014.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda article Without trial or investigation. What was Andrii Portnov doing on the eve of his murder?

Quote: "Immediately following Portnov’s murder, Ukraine proposed forming a joint investigative group with Spanish law enforcement, but the offer was declined. Spanish investigators have not ruled out that the Ukrainian security services may have been involved."

Details: Ukrainska Pravda’s sources suggested two possible motives for Ukraine’s interest in a joint investigation. One is to obtain access to investigation materials, including Portnov’s phones and devices, which may contain sensitive information. The other is a desire – particularly on the part of Oleh Tatarov, a key figure overseeing Ukraine’s law enforcement – to expedite the investigation and clarify the circumstances of the killing.

The Spanish authorities have also refused to release Portnov’s body to Ukraine, but are expected to do so early next week.

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 of 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 21 May 2025 outside the American School in Madrid’s Pozuelo de Alarcón suburb, shortly after dropping off his children. Spanish police suspect the attack was meticulously planned, possibly by a professional assassin using a silenced pistol, with at least one accomplice and a prearranged escape route. No arrests have been made and the motives under consideration include organised crime and political retribution.

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