Bullets, Spain, and the Legacy of an Era: Who Shot Portnov?

Wednesday morning in Madrid’s Pozuelo district began not with Spanish pastries and coffee, but with five gunshots at the gates of a prestigious American school. The victim: Andriy Portnov, former deputy head of Yanukovych’s Administration, a man who knew a bit more about courts and intrigue than about a good tan.

According to Spanish media and law enforcement, Portnov had just dropped his daughters off at school—a caring father, whom, alas, even a tall Spanish fence could not save. The killer, dressed in a blue tracksuit (one would like to believe it was Adidas), didn’t wait for the school bell, but acted with the efficiency worthy of an FSB human resources manual: five shots, a control shot to the head, a getaway toward the park, and possibly accomplices on a motorcycle. Police are searching for a “tall, thin man”—apparently, a description that fits every villain from kindergarten plays to Netflix.

Motives, according to Spanish investigators, are either rooted in mafia scores or politics. However, given Portnov’s track record, it’s not hard to imagine his list of enemies was longer than Ukraine’s judicial registry. Surely, someone put this case on their “to-do list” back when Portnov walked Bankova Street with pleasure and handed out dirt on prosecutors by subscription, like a newspaper.

The Ukrainian political elite reacted with restraint: “Portnov has died,” sources reported laconically, as if it were not a high-profile murder, but the loss of a TV host for the gardening season.

Portnov was a man of his era—an era when schemes were scribbled on napkins and cases of “state treason” were closed via Telegram. His influence on the courts was considered almost mystical, and his surname made even the most resilient prosecutors nervous.

The finale turned out dramatic and, one might say, in the spirit of crime noir: no trial, no investigation—just five shots and plenty of theories. Now we wait to hear what the Spanish police say and whose name will ultimately be the last on this list.

In any case, Spanish children have certainly learned today that Ukrainian politics is truly dangerous business.