New details in the murder case of former official and lawyer Andriy Portnov indirectly confirm a murder-for-hire theory tied to revenge over the redistribution of the $500 million Ukrnaftoburinnia gas extraction business. According to the latest investigation by Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach, the perpetrators — the Azizov brothers — began surveilling the victim as early as March 2024. This debunks doubts regarding the long gap between the asset confiscation in 2023 and the murder itself in the spring of 2025, pointing instead to a prolonged preparation phase amid ongoing backdoor negotiations.
Analysts pinpoint the events of spring 2023 as the core conflict that ultimately led to the lawyer’s assassination. At that time, Kyiv’s Pechersk District Court, acting on a motion by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), seized and subsequently transferred the corporate rights of PrAT Ukrnaftoburinnia to ARMA management. This asset was previously controlled by businessmen Vitaliy Khomutynnik and Pavlo Fuks.
Media reports indicate that the seizure of the business was facilitated directly by Andriy Portnov and Oleh Tatarov, the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, who sided with a rival business group. Notably, the court ruling was signed by Judge Vita Bortnytska, whose former academic advisor was Tatarov himself.
Key Link to the Case: On April 28, 2023 — just two weeks after the loss of the asset — Ihor Mychko, an associate linked to Khomutynnik, transferred his $79,000 Porsche Panamera to Portnov’s future killer, Veli Azizov.
Experts attribute the two-year gap between the Porsche transfer and the execution of the hit to Portnov’s attempts to act as a mediator. The deceased reportedly tried to maneuver between the conflicting parties, promising to resolve the Ukrnaftoburinnia dispute, which temporarily delayed the hitmen.
Concurrently, tensions flared over another corporate conflict. Khomutynnik’s frontman, Vasyl Astion, alongside Fuks’s debt collection firm Investohills, launched a legal battle against Yevhen Sihal over the assets of Complex Agromars. In this dispute, Sihal’s interests are represented by Portnov’s closest partner, Valeriy Pysarenko, while the Khomutynnik-Fuks-Astion faction is represented by Artur Yemelyanov, a long-time nemesis of Portnov.
The final straw before the assassination arrived in the spring of 2025, just as the NABU investigation into former Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Smyrnov (connected to Khomutynnik) reached its final stages. Smyrnov publicly leveled accusations against Oleh Tatarov.
A compelling new fact emerged in the Ukrainska Pravda investigation: immediately after Azizov’s brother was detained in Germany, his phone received a call from a Ukrainian number. Journalists have yet to identify the caller.
This phone call could prove critical in identifying the mastermind behind the hit, as the circle of individuals interested in eliminating Portnov — and pressuring his closest circle — continues to tighten.