Russia critic shot, killed in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine — A former Russian lawmaker who became a vociferous critic of Moscow following his recent move to Ukraine was shot and killed Thursday in Kiev, prompting harsh words between the two neighboring countries.

Denis Voronenkov, who had testified to Ukrainian investigators and criticized Russian policies after his move to Kiev last fall, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman near the entrance of an upscale hotel in the Ukrainian capital.

Voronenkov’s bodyguard, a Ukrainian security services officer charged with protecting him, fired back during the attack and was himself seriously wounded.

Ukrainian officials said the gunman, who they claimed was a Ukrainian citizen, later died from wounds in his chest and head. They did not identify the gunman.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called Voronenkov’s killing an “act of state terrorism” that “clearly shows the handwriting of Russian special services, which has been shown repeatedly in various European capitals in the past.”

Poroshenko described the victim as a key witness who gave testimony about “Russian aggression” to Ukrainian authorities.

Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, said Voronenkov was killed shortly before meeting with another fugitive Russian lawmaker, Ilya Ponomaryov. Both men were scheduled to give testimony later in the day at Ukraine’s Military Prosecutor’s Office. The purpose of the testimony was not immediately clear.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed the claim by Poroshenko as “absurd” in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went further, saying the “killer regime” in Kiev “will do its best to make sure that no one will ever know the truth about what happened.”

Relations between the two countries have soured badly following Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.