Authorities identified Pavlo Parshov, 28, as the gunman who killed ex-Russian lawmaker Denys Voronenkov in Kyiv on March 23, Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko confirmed to the Kyiv Post.
Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko claimed that Parshov was “a Russian agent planted in the National Guard.”
Voronenkov’s bodyguard and Parshov exchanged gunfire, with the assassin dying from his gunshot wounds only a few hours after being shot. The shootout took place about 11:30 a.m. Surveillance video showing the assassination was leaked to the RBC.ua news website (WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO):
The video, obtained by RosBusiness Consulting in Ukraine, shows the murder of Denys Voronenkov on March 23 in central Kyiv. (Youtube/RBC)
The bodyguard, provided by the state because Voronenkov was giving testimony in a criminal investigation of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, was also wounded but is recovering.
But details about Parshov’s background remain murky. A Ukrainian citizen, Parshov had been wanted in Ukraine for fraud and money laundering since 2011, according to the Interior Ministry’s database. His last known place of residence was Dnipro, the provincial capital of 1 million people some 470 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
- ‘State terrorism’: Ex-Russian lawmaker assassinated in Kyiv
- Assassination of Denys Voronenkov (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Russian media reported that Parshov was a former officer of the National Guard of Ukraine. According to the Interior Ministry’s Gerashchenko, Parshov served for a year, never participated in the fighting in the Donbas and quit in August. It isn’t clear how Parshov could enlist in the National Guard, a body formed in 2014, while being wanted for crimes since 2011.
Implications for other witnesses?
Voronenkov fled Russia for Ukraine in October following the launching of a criminal investigation against him there. A former supporter of Russia’s war against Ukraine, he switched sides, received Ukrainian citizenship and testified against Yanukovych, who has been charged with high treason.
Voronenkov’s brazen assassination in broad daylight in the center of Kyiv sent an alarming signal about the safety of both Kremlin critics in Ukraine and other potential witnesses in the Yanukovych case.
Voronenkov had only one state-appointed bodyguard with him as he was walking outside the Premier Palace Hotel, heading to meet another exiled Russian politician, Illya Ponomarev. The bodyguard was shot in the stomach and hospitalized. Following the assassination, the authorities also provided Ponomarev and Voronenkov’s wife Maria Maksakova with security guards.
The investigation’s main theory is that the assassination was ordered by Russian special services. President Petro Poroshenko immediately backed this, pointing the finger of blame at Russia in his statement following the murder.
Amid criticism over the authorities’ failure to guarantee security of a top witness in an important case, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko tried to present Voronenkov’s assassination as a sign of the investigation’s success.
“This (killing) proves that we were on the right track in investigating the Yanukovych case,” Lutsenko said. “We’ve hit the very heart of the Kremlin and its accomplices.”
Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine to Russia in February 2014, escaping the anti-government protests known as the EuroMaidan Revolution, has been under investigation since the first days following his escape. The new authorities immediately launched an investigation into ex-president and his cronies, including his chief of staff, parliament speaker, and top ministers.
Yanukovych is charged with high treason for his alleged involvement in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which started days after his escape – first with Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea, and then with the covert invasion of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Yanukovych is also suspected of mass murder and multibillion-dollar corruption.
Voronenkov, who was a member of Russia’s State Duma during that time and supported the vote for the annexation of Crimea, testified in the case against Yanukovych in January, he said.
He was expected to give more testimony on the day he was murdered, according to Lutsenko.
However, by the time of the murder the Prosecutor General’s Office had already completed work on the high treason case against Yanukovych: It was passed to the court for hearing on March 14.
After fleeing to Ukraine, Voronenkov said he hadn’t wanted to vote for the annexation of Crimea, but was forced to do so. In other interviews, he claimed he wasn’t even present at parliament for the vote, and that his vote was cast in absentia.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko contributed to this story.
