MADRID, May 30. /TASS/. The Spanish National Police are investigating a possible link between the trip of lawyer Andrey Portnov, a former advisor to Ukrainian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, to his homeland in mid-May and his murder in Madrid a few days later, El Pais reported.
According to its information, he was in Ukraine three days before he was murdered in a Madrid suburb. Sources involved in the investigation confirmed that Portnov met with members of Vladimir Zelensky's administration. Currently, the investigation is trying to establish whether this trip has anything to do with his death.
As previously reported by Ukrainska Pravda the ex-advisor to Yanukovych he met with Oleg Tatarov, deputy head of Zelensky's office, and Alexey Sukhachev, director of the State Bureau of Investigation (GBR) during his visit to Ukraine. It is not clear what they discussed. The paper said the Spanish investigators do not rule out that the Ukrainian special services were involved in Portnov's death.
Earlier, Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy reported that Tatarov flew to Spain in connection with the investigation of Portnov's murder. According to him, Portnov was in Kiev on May 17 and 18, where he met with Zelensky and the head of his office Andrey Yermak. He further claims that Portnov tried to blackmail Zelensky and Yermak, alleging that he had compromising information about them, Shariy pointed out.
Portnov was gunned down on May 21 in the affluent suburb of Pozuelo de Alarcon. So far, law enforcement agencies have not reported any arrests in the investigation. According to local media, police are searching for three perpetrators.