Andriy Portnov, Yanukovych aide, shot dead at Madrid school

Shooting in Pozuelo: Yanukovych’s former aide gunned down outside his children’s school

A man drops off his children at the gate of the American School of Madrid, in Pozuelo de Alarcón, and is hit by several bullets. It happens at 9:15 AM, in full view of passersby. The victim is no ordinary father: he is Andriy Portnov, a former advisor to ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was living in Spain in a sort of exile, under scrutiny from his own country’s intelligence services due to his ties with Moscow. According to initial reports, the attacker shot him from behind, hitting his neck and finishing him off on the ground. Two or three people were involved; no arrests had been made as this report closed.

Who was Andriy Portnov and why was he in Pozuelo?

Portnov was not unknown in Ukraine. During Yanukovych’s presidency, he served as deputy head of the Presidential Administration, overseeing courts and law enforcement. After the Maidan revolution and his boss’s fall, his name became associated with the repression of those protests. Under Zelensky, he became a declared opponent of the president. Those tracking his movements say he had stayed away from Ukrainian politics for years and resided in Spain.

The detail that surprises many is the school’s tuition. The American School of Madrid is, according to industry insiders, the second most expensive in Spain. Pozuelo de Alarcón is also the municipality with the highest income levels in the Community of Madrid. A Ukrainian political advisor in exile, with two daughters enrolled in such an exclusive center, does not fit the profile of an indigent refugee. Some argue that lawyers cannot practice in Spain without accreditation, which was historically granted easily to EU citizens. Calculating the cost of maintaining two enrollments at that school, itemized line by line, yields a surprising figure.

The second settling of scores at the same gate

This is not the first time someone has been shot in this area. In March 2018, a 44-year-old Colombian-born Spanish national was murdered in very similar circumstances while taking his son to school. He was José Ricardo Rojas Montes, known as “Richi,” whom investigators linked to some of the country’s most prominent crime bosses, connected to a gang involved in large-scale drug trafficking, extortion, and money laundering. The coincidence of location has led many to check historical records.

The lingering question is why an elite school in Pozuelo becomes a recurring scene for such executions. Those familiar with the situation offer a simple answer: wealthy families send their children there, and among them slip profiles that do not necessarily come from local payroll jobs.

The real estate business and undeclared money

The discussion quickly shifts to an issue more relevant than the crime itself: where does the cash used to buy luxury villas and apartments come from? The prevailing thesis is that Spain has become a money laundering hub, with Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, and the islands concentrating the phenomenon. It is argued that hospitality and nightlife businesses have proliferated as fronts, and that the trend of paying in cash in certain venues reflects not nostalgia for bills, but the need to leave no trace.

The link to housing prices is direct in this reading: if opaque money enters and competes for the same limited stock of apartments, those earning average wages lose out. The worker who does everything right, pays taxes, and stays out of trouble watches helplessly as the price per square meter rises without their salary keeping pace. This diagnosis echoes other economic forums, but here it takes on uncomfortable specificity: the money that kills a man at a school gate is the same bidding for the penthouse next door.

Who pays for everyone else’s children’s schooling?

One line of analysis goes beyond the incident into public policy. It is claimed that elites, regardless of affiliation, share one ideology: money. That a pro-Russian Ukrainian opposition figure enrolls his daughters in the American School, the second most expensive in Spain, while criticizing Zelensky, is seen by some as proof that convictions end where tuition begins. For others, it is simply what any resourceful parent does when wanting to keep their children out of the public system.

In parallel, debate arises over who fills these schools. It is noted that several ministers and businessmen send their children to centers of this profile, far from public education. The criticism is less about the school itself and more about the double standard: those who legislate on compulsory education and public school funding enroll their own in private circuits costing twenty thousand euros a year. According to this view, the exclusivity of elites, which in the seventies barred families with shady businesses from Barcelona’s schools, is dead. Now, you just have to pay.

Geopolitical context: Ukraine, Russia, and score-settling in Spain

The international dimension of the case allows for various interpretations. One points to a settling of accounts between Ukrainian services, given Portnov’s history as Yanukovych’s trusted man and his opposition to Zelensky. Another suggests the assassination might relate to sensitive information about the Ukrainian president during peace talks. Neither theory is backed by public evidence. What is confirmed is a pattern: in Alicante, a Russian deserter was murdered, and now a pro-Russian Ukrainian falls in Madrid. The succession of cases has led to talk of a swamp of death squads in Spain.

The victim’s profile complicates the narrative. A man who was key to Maidan repression, later opposed Zelensky, and lived in golden exile in Pozuelo, fits neither the martyr nor the villain mold. He fits better the description of a big fish with many enemies and few friends.

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The scene remains: a father dropping his daughters off at a school costing twenty thousand euros a year, and an attacker shooting from behind and finishing him off on the ground. The hunt for the perpetrator continues. No one has arrested anyone. Meanwhile, in Pozuelo, the price per square meter does not drop.