Ex-Russian lawmaker shot dead in Kiev

A former Russian lawmaker who fled Moscow for Ukraine and was critical of President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in Kiev.

Denis Voronenkov was killed Thursday at about 11:40 a.m. near the Premier Palace hotel in the center of Ukraine’s capital, the local police chief said in televised comments. Voronenkov’s bodyguard was injured in the shooting and also wounded the assailant, the police said. Both men are under guard in a hospital.

Voronenkov and his wife, an opera singer who’d previously worked as a legislator for Putin’s party, left Russia in 2016 and received Ukrainian citizenship last month. Voronenkov was providing testimony in a treason case against ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled in deadly protests three years ago and now lives in Russia. He also gave interviews to Ukrainian media in which he described the situation in Russia as similar to “Hitler’s Nazi Germany.”

“Voronenkov was one of the key witnesses against Yanukovych,” said Larysa Sargan, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Prosecutor General. “It was a demonstrative execution of a witness.”