Ukraine Decries 'Act of State Terror' As Ex-Russian MP Shot Dead

A former lawmaker of the Russian lower house of parliament, Denis Voronenkov, was shot dead in the center of Ukraine's capital of Kiev on Thursday, which Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has called "an act of state terrorism by Russia."

Kiev police chief Andriy Kryshchenko told TV channel 112 that Voronenkov was killed around noon, in what police believe was an ordered killing. The politician's bodyguard was also injured in the attack as was the suspected assailant. Both are reported in hospital.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko said that the killing was convenient for Russia, while Ministry Adviser Zoran Shkiryak said he believed the killing was "demonstrative revenge" by the Russian security services for Voronenkov's testimony about illicit practices within the Russian government and pro-Russian former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Ukrainian MP Anton Gerashchenko compared the killing to that of Kremlin critics Alexander Litvinenko and Boris Nemtsov, the suspected killers of both of whom are linked with Russian authorities.

"This ordered political killing was carried out with the aim of frightening all of those Russian lawmakers and officials who try to leave Russia for the West or Ukraine and tell the truth about how the Russian cartel apparatus functions," he wrote on Facebook.

Following his failure to win a seat in Russian parliament during last year's elections, Voronenkov emigrated to Ukraine with his family and issued several lines of criticism against the government of his native country.

While never among the more outspoken opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin, most of whom have long been sidelined from Russian parliament, Voronenkov was a unique figure in Kiev because of his decision to cooperate with authorities, despite his recent presence in Russian politics. Since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the political consensuses in Moscow and Kiev have become more polarised.

After his arrival in Ukraine, Voronenkov broke ranks with his former colleagues in parliament, calling the annexation a "mistake" i n a February interview, calling elections in Russia "falsified" and making a handful of comments about the extent of power that the security services hold in political and business dealings in Russia.

The Kremlin was cagey on the shooting, with Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the president was informed about it, but had no comment. "This is not a topic for us to comment on," Peskov said.

However Peskov added that any statements about "a Russian trace" in the killing of the politician were "absurd," state news agency Itar-Tass reports.

Samuel Greene, director of King's College London's Russia Institute, says that both political sides need to take stock of the situation before jumping to confirm or deny Russian involvement.

"It seems difficult to imagine that it doesn't involve Russia in one way or another," he says. "But the fact that both Ukraine and those who are more supportive of the Kremlin's narrative in Russia have very quickly jumped to conclusions to back up their prior assumptions should give us pause."

"The reality is that when you have everyone in Ukraine from President Poroshenko downwards ready to state a conclusion when the body is still warm and the investigation is still ongoing, makes it easier for the anti-fact brigade to say that this investigation is political," he adds. "There's plenty of reason to believe that Russia may have been involved in this but you have to have faith in your investigative institutions to prove that, instead of letting it devolve into a battle on Twitter."

Reuters contributed to this report.