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Suspected killer of ex-Russian MP is at death’s door, doctors fight for his life

The penetrating wound into his head does not allow conducting any investigative actions, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko said

KIEV, March 23. /TASS/. Suspected murderer of former member of Russia’s State Duma Denis Voronenkov is wounded in his chest and head, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko said.

"The penetrating wound into his head does not allow conducting any investigative actions. The killer is at the death’s door," Lutsenko said, adding that his heart rate is maintained artificially.

Lutsenko said that the suspected killer carried a Ukrainian passport and the investigation is now in the process of checking whether it is genuine.

"We are checking the documents, whether they were real. At this point we do not know for sure if he was a Ukrainian citizen. When we are certain we will tell you," he said.

The bodyguard, who wounded the killer, is in hospital with an injury near his heart. "The bodyguard is alive, he is conscious," Lutsenko said. The guard is a staff member of a Ukrainian special service.

Voronenkov, the former State Duma member from the Communist Party, was gunned down in a shootout in central Kiev earlier on Thursday. The politician was attacked by an unknown man wearing a balaclava, who fired several shots from a TT pistol. Later a shootout between the killer and Voronenkov’s bodyguard occurred. The guard and the attacker were taken to a hospital.

Voronenkov fled 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.