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Suspected killer of former State Duma MP now in hospital 'under police protection'

The suspected killer’s wounds are not life-threatening, a Ukrainian official assured

Police officers at the site where former Russian State Duma member Denis Voronenkov was killed Alexander Rybin/TASS

Police officers at the site where former Russian State Duma member Denis Voronenkov was killed

© Alexander Rybin/TASS

KIEV, March 23. /TASS/. Suspected killer of former member of Russia’s State Duma Denis Voronenkov was wounded during a shootout in Kiev and is currently in a hospital under police protection, head of the city’s police force Andrey Krishchenko has said.

"The guard wounded the shooter [of Voronenkov] and was wounded himself. Both of them are in a hospital," Krishchenko said.

The suspected killer’s wound is not life-threatening, said Ilya Kiva, adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister.

Voronenkov, the former State Duma member from the Communist Party, was gunned down in a shootout in central Kiev earlier on Thursday. Police said this was a contract murder.

Read also

Former member of Russia’s State Duma gunned down in Kiev

Former State Duma member Ilya Ponomaryov wrote on his Facebook page that Voronenkov was killed when he was going for a meeting with him.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of Voronenkov’s murder, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Voronenkov moved to Ukraine in October 2016 and in February he was officially charged with fraud in Russia and put on the international wanted list. He was granted Ukraine’s citizenship last December.

Media reports said Voronenkov testified to the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office in a high treason case opened against Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovich.

In December 2014, Voronenkov was stripped of his immunity in connection with a criminal case into the illegal seizure of a building in downtown Moscow.

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