A Moscow military court sentenced Leonid Volkov, a Russian oppositionist and associate of late Alexei Navalny, to 18 years in maximum security prison, Mediazona reported on June 11.The ruling was issued in absentia as Volkov was forced to leave Russia in 2019 and was placed on the federal wanted list in 2021. He currently resides in Lithuania.The judge sentenced Volkov to a maximum sentence demanded by the prosecution based on 45 cases under nine criminal articles.The accusations raised against
A Moscow military court sentenced Leonid Volkov, a Russian oppositionist and associate of late Alexei Navalny, to 18 years in maximum security prison, Mediazona reported on June 11.
The ruling was issued in absentia as Volkov was forced to leave Russia in 2019 and was placed on the federal wanted list in 2021. He currently resides in Lithuania.
The judge sentenced Volkov to a maximum sentence demanded by the prosecution based on 45 cases under nine criminal articles.
The accusations raised against the oppositionist ranged from "discrediting" the Russian military, ties to an allegedly "extremist group," and the "rehabilitation of Nazism" to involving underage persons in rallies and vandalism.
The said charges are often used by the Kremlin to suppress political dissent and silence opposition voices.
Volkov was also ordered to pay a fine of 2 million rubles ($25,000) and banned from engaging in any online activity.
Volkov was one of the closest allies of Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February 2024 under unclear circumstances. Volkov was Navalny's chief of staff during the latter's 2018 presidential bid and led his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) organization until 2023.
In the summer of 2022, Volkov was charged in Russia for "justifying terrorism" and with "discrediting" the military, a charge invented by Russian authorities to silence criticism of the war against Ukraine.
Volkov suffered injuries when he was assaulted at his home in Lithuania in March 2024. A month later, Polish authorities detained a Belarusian suspected of organizing the attack on Moscow's behalf.
The Russian regime has intensified its crackdown on the domestic opposition since the outbreak of Moscow's all-out war against Ukraine in 2022.
The U.K. government is ready to sue sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich over the sale of the Chelsea Football Club, U.K. Treasury Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a joint statement on June 2."The government is determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine, following Russia's illegal full-scale invasion," the two officials said.Lammy, on March 9, vowed to unfreeze billions of dollars of revenue
The U.K. government is ready to sue sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich over the sale of the Chelsea Football Club, U.K. Treasury Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a joint statement on June 2.
"The government is determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine, following Russia's illegal full-scale invasion," the two officials said.
Lammy, on March 9, vowed to unfreeze billions of dollars of revenue earned from Abramovich's sale of the Chelsea Football Club and use the funds to support Ukraine.
Abramovich was forced to sell Chelsea FC when sanctions were enacted against him following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"While the door for negotiations will remain open, we are fully prepared to pursue this through the courts if required," Reeves and Lammy said in their joint statement.
The U.K. government previously said that the funds intended to help Ukraine remained in limbo due to a disagreement between officials and Abramovich.
"We are deeply frustrated that it has not been possible to reach agreement on this with Mr Abramovich so far," they said.
2.3 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) are currently frozen in a dedicated trust as officials decide how to obtain and utilize the funds.
Abramovich reportedly owes up to 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) to the U.K. after attempting to evade taxes on hedge fund investments in a scheme involving the Chelsea Football Club.
The oligarch is also under investigation for undeclared assets in Germany, Spiegel reported on Feb. 8, citing the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office.
The family of late Andriy Portnov, a former top aide to ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, acquired more than $2 million worth of real estate in Dubai during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an investigative report by Schemes, a project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has revealed on June 2.According to property records leaked from Dubai's Land Department and state-owned utilities, verified in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Le Monde,
The family of late Andriy Portnov, a former top aide to ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, acquired more than $2 million worth of real estate in Dubai during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an investigative report by Schemes, a project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has revealed on June 2.
According to property records leaked from Dubai's Land Department and state-owned utilities, verified in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Le Monde, six properties were purchased in 2022–2023 by Portnov's civil partner, Anastasiia Valiaieva, and his daughter, Liliia Portnova. As of mid-2025, five of the properties remain under their ownership.
The first known purchase was made by Portnova in October 2022, when she bought a 69-square-meter apartment in Sobha Hartland One Park Avenue for around $320,000.
Property acquisitions reportedly accelerated in mid-2023, with Portnova and Valiaieva investing in multiple new developments, including Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence and Creek Vista Heights, spending between $132,000 and $600,000 per unit.
One property — an apartment in Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence valued at over $600,000 — is still under construction and slated for completion in September 2025. Another, in Creek Vista Heights, worth more than $550,000, is expected to be completed in 2026.
Despite owning these high-end assets, Schemes found no public records indicating current business activity for either woman. Valiaieva previously owned a company called Vasilisa Group, formerly known as Portnov Group and linked to Portnov himself, but he ceased to be listed as its owner in 2020.
Journalists were also able to confirm that Valiaieva has held Russian citizenship since 2014 and that Portnova is a Swiss national.
In April 2024, Portnov transferred ownership of a luxury estate outside Kyiv to his children through a notarized deed of gift. The document, obtained by Schemes, shows that the transaction was conducted by Valiaieva on behalf of their children.
A Ukrainian notary certified the deed, while a lawyer who previously represented Portnov in court, Marina Parinova, acted on his behalf using a power of attorney notarized in Madrid.
Neither Portnova nor Valiaieva responded to requests for comment from Schemes, nor did attorneys previously associated with Portnov.
The revelations come around two weeks after Portnov was shot dead in Madrid on May 21.
Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed his death to the Kyiv Independent. Spanish media outlets said Portnov was shot at five times, with at least three bullets striking his head and torso. No arrests have been made.
Portnov, 51, was a central figure in the Yanukovych administration from 2010 to 2014 and was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 over allegations of corruption and judicial manipulation. After fleeing Ukraine following the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, he resided in Russia and Austria, returning to Ukraine in 2019. He fled again in June 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion began.
Known as one of the most litigious ex-officials in Ukraine, Portnov sued several media outlets, including the Kyiv Independent, over reports labeling him "pro-Russian." He won a defamation case in a Kyiv court in 2024.
His influence extended into the media as well: he briefly headed the pro-Russian TV channel NewsOne in 2018. A 2020 UkraineWorld report accused Portnov of using online bots to discredit the EuroMaidan Revolution and Ukraine's pro-European reforms.
Former Ukrainian top official Andriy Portnov met in Ukraine with Oleh Tatarov, deputy head of the Presidential Office, and Oleksii Sukhachov, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, days before he was killed in Madrid, Ukrainska Pravda reported on May 29, citing undisclosed sources.Portnov was shot dead by unidentified attackers outside the American School in Madrid on May 21. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that two or three people are believed to be involved in the attack, though no
Former Ukrainian top official Andriy Portnov met in Ukraine with Oleh Tatarov, deputy head of the Presidential Office, and Oleksii Sukhachov, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, days before he was killed in Madrid, Ukrainska Pravda reported on May 29, citing undisclosed sources.
Portnov was shot dead by unidentified attackers outside the American School in Madrid on May 21. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that two or three people are believed to be involved in the attack, though no arrests have been made so far, and the motive remains unclear.
Portnov served in the administration of pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych between 2010 and 2014. After the EuroMaidan Revolution, he lived alternately abroad and in Ukraine and was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021 over allegations that he was involved in corruption.
Four sources confirmed to Ukrainska Pravda that Portnov was in Ukraine between May 17 and 18 and held meetings with senior officials overseeing Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies, including Tatarov and Sukhachov.
The sources said they were unaware of the topics discussed.
Tatarov is the most controversial official in President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration. He was charged with bribery before joining the administration, but the corruption case against him was obstructed by law enforcement agencies and courts and eventually closed.
According to the media outlet's sources, Portnov has recently been seeking ways to have U.S. sanctions against him lifted. He also reportedly gathered information on the activities of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and civil society activists in Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent submitted official requests for comment to the Presidential Office and the State Bureau of Investigation but did not receive an immediate response.
Portnov led the legal team of then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from 2005 to 2010 and sat in the parliament between 2006 and 2010. After 2010, he became the head of Yanukovych's main judiciary department and deputy head of his administration.
The ex-official left Ukraine for Russia and later Austria after Yanukovych was ousted in the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014, but returned to Ukraine in 2019. Portnov fled Ukraine again in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion broke out, even though the travel ban for military-age men was already in effect.
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