Denis Voronenkov
In office
Personal details
10 April 1971
Kiev, Ukraine
2016)
Military service
Russia
Service/branch Red Army
Rank Colonel
Contents
[hide]
2Education
3Career
o 3.1Political career
4Murder
5Notes
6References
Education[edit]
As the son of a serviceman, Voronenkov won a place in the Leningrad Suvorov Military
School, from which he graduated in 1988 and then immediately joined the Soviet Army.[1] In
1995 he completed a diploma level officers course at the Military University of the Ministry
of Defence of the Russian Federation, prior to his transfer to the Military Prosecutor's Office
of the Russian Federation.[1] In 1996 he did another course at the Facility of Law of
the Ryazan State University.[1] In 1999, at the Moscow Academy of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs for the Russian Federation he successfully defended his thesis for the Degree of
Candidate for Legal Sciences, titled 'Legal Nihilism and Legal Idealism (Theoretical and
Legal Research)', Doctor of Law.[1] In 2009 he defended his thesis on 'Theoretical and
normative basis of judicial control in the mechanism of separation of powers', at
the Russian Legal Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.[1]
Career[edit]
Voronenkov eventually came to hold the rank of colonel in the Russian army.[8] He had
worked in military & federal law enforcement since 1995, joining the Military Prosecutor's
Office of the Russian Federation, initially as an investigator.[1][a] He had reached the position
of a Deputy Prosecutor by the time he left the military in 1999 in order to enter politics. In
2000 Voronenkov became an employee for the State Duma faction of the party Unity.[1] In
April 2001 Voronenkov was detained while taking a bribe of $10,000 to lobby for the
interest of Yevgeny Trostentsov in the State Duma, but the case was closed next July.[1] In
2001 he was shortly an advisor of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation before
becoming the Deputy Mayor of Naryan-Mar and Deputy Governor of Nenets Autonomous
District.[1] Voronenkov then worked for the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia from
2004 until 2007.[1][9][b] He then pursued an academic career as Associate Professor; his last
post before being elected an MP was (from February 2010) at the St. Petersburg Institute
of International Trade, Economics and Law.[1]
Political career[edit]
Voronenkov was elected as a deputy for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in
the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, in 2011. [3][7] As an MP, he
participated in making legislation that banned foreign ownership of Russian media, a move
that has been described as seriously curtailing media freedom in Russia.[7] He lost his bid
for reelection in September 2016, taking third place (13.99%) in constituency 129,
located in his native Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, well behind the winner, United
Russia candidate Vladimir Panov (42.39%).[1] He stepped down from the State Duma in
October.[10] Later that month, Voronenkov announced that he had given up his Russian
citizenship and left for Ukraine,[11][12] where he was naturalized as a Ukrainian citizen in
December.[4][13][14] Voronenkov said that he had no intention of entering Ukrainian politics.
[7]
He was expelled from the Communist Party in 2016. [1]
After Voronenkov moved to Ukraine, he became known as a sharp critic of Russian
president Vladimir Putin and Russian policy towards Ukraine. Before stepping down as an
MP in Russia, he had however taken part in the parliamentary vote to annex Crimea from
Ukraine, for which he was criticised in Ukraine.[3] Although his vote was registered, he
stated that he was not present in parliament on that day.[7] In 2014 he had also voiced
support for the breakaway regions of Novorossiya in the east of Ukraine, which added to
the criticism of him in Ukraine. In 2017 he was however an outspoken critic of Russian
intervention in Ukraine and elsewhere, e.g. in Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[7]In
an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in February 2017, Voronenkov
compared Russia under Vladimir Putin to Nazi Germany and called the Russian annexation
of Crimea both illegal and a mistake.[7] He described the atmosphere in Russia as
characterised by a "pseudo-patriotic frenzy" and "total fear".[7] At the time of his death, he
had been due to testify against former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.[15]
According to Voronenkov, he was persecuted in Russia by the Federal Security
Service whom he accused of being involved in drug trafficking. [4] In October 2016
the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office refused to launch a probe against Voronenkov
recommended by the Investigative Committee of Russia.[11] Nevertheless, Voronenkov was
accused later of being involved in an illegal property seizure (worth 127 million rubles[16]) in
Moscow.[11] Russian investigators were preparing a criminal case against Voronenkov, but
were waiting for his parliamentary immunity to run out in December 2016. [9] In March 2017 a
court in Moscow had sanctioned Voronenkov's arrest in absentia. [16] Voronenkov himself
dismissed the Russian accusations as politically motivated and stated that the Federal
Security Service had offered him to write off the accusations against him if he would pay
them US$3 million.[17][8]
Murder[edit]
Voronenkov was shot and killed in Kiev at as he left the Premier Palace hotel on 23 March
2017.[18][3] Ukraine's General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko stated that Voronenkov was shot at
least three times, including in the head, and died instantly.[15] He was on his way to meet Ilya
Ponomarev, another former Russian MP living in exile in Ukraine.[15] His assailant was
wounded by Voronenkov's bodyguard (this bodyguard was provided by the Ukrainian
Security Service)[3] and taken to hospital, where he later died from his wounds, according to
the authorities.[15] The gunman carried a Ukrainian passport and had been sought by the
police on fraud and money laundering charges, according to the General Prosecutor of
Ukraine.[15][19] Anton Gerashchenko, an official with Ukraine's Interior Ministry and a
Ukrainian lawmaker[20] said that the name of the gunman was Pavel Parshov, a Ukrainian
citizen and veteran of Ukraine's volunteer paramilitary unit.[20] He also said that Parshov was
planted by Russian services as an undercover agent into the National Guard of Ukraine.
[21]
A police spokesman said the murder was likely a contract killing.[10] Voronenkov's
bodyguard was also wounded during the incident.[3]
The president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko reacted to the murder by calling it an act of
Russian "state terrorism". Russian officials denied being involved and called the claims
"absurd".[15] Russian MP and former Director of the Russian Federal Security
Service Nikolay Kovalyov said to Russian TV that he believed the murder may be linked to
a business dispute.[15] Ponomarev reacted to the murder by stating: "I have no words. The
security guard was able to injure the attacker. The potential theory is obvious. Voronenkov
was not a crook, but an investigator who was fatally dangerous to Russian
authorities."[3] Lutsenko called the murder a "typical show execution of a witness by the
Kremlin."[22]
A little more than a month before his murder, Voronenkov said that he feared for his own
and his family's security, and that he had been "poking a sore spot of the Kremlin" with his
criticism of the Russian president.[7] In a March 2017 interview, he referred to
"demonization" in Russia and stated, "The system has lost its mind. They say we are
traitors in Russia. And I say, 'Who did we betray?"[23]
Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ During this period the Military Prosecutor's Office
was acting as the de facto military police of the Russian
Armed Forces, with some assistance from Ministry of
Internal Affairs OMON units.
References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o (Russian) Biography of
Denys Voronenkov, TASS news agency (23 March 2017)
12. Jump up^ Parfitt, Tom (23 March 2017). "Putin critic shot
dead in the streets of Kiev". The Times. Retrieved 23
March 2017.
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 78255028
LCCN: n2008057562
GND: 1128376474
Categories:
1971 births
2017 deaths
People from Nizhny Novgorod
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Communist Party of the Russian Federation members
Soviet Army officers
Russian military personnel
Members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)
21st-century Russian politicians
History of Russia (1992present)
Political repression
Deaths by firearm in Ukraine
People murdered in Ukraine
Assassinated Russian politicians
Russian defectors
Russian emigrants to Ukraine
Naturalized citizens of Ukraine
Russian people of Ukrainian descent
Ukrainian crisis
Cold War II
Russian people murdered abroad
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<v
Denis Voronenkov
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Nikolayevich and
the family name is Voronenkov.
Denis Voronenkov
In office
10 April 1971
Kiev, Ukraine
2016)
Military service
Russia
Rank Colonel
Contents
[hide]
3Career
o 3.1Political career
4Murder
5Notes
6References
Education[edit]
As the son of a serviceman, Voronenkov won a place in the Leningrad Suvorov Military
School, from which he graduated in 1988 and then immediately joined the Soviet Army.[1] In
1995 he completed a diploma level officers course at the Military University of the Ministry
of Defence of the Russian Federation, prior to his transfer to the Military Prosecutor's Office
of the Russian Federation.[1] In 1996 he did another course at the Facility of Law of
the Ryazan State University.[1] In 1999, at the Moscow Academy of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs for the Russian Federation he successfully defended his thesis for the Degree of
Candidate for Legal Sciences, titled 'Legal Nihilism and Legal Idealism (Theoretical and
Legal Research)', Doctor of Law.[1] In 2009 he defended his thesis on 'Theoretical and
normative basis of judicial control in the mechanism of separation of powers', at
the Russian Legal Academy of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.[1]
Career[edit]
Voronenkov eventually came to hold the rank of colonel in the Russian army.[8] He had
worked in military & federal law enforcement since 1995, joining the Military Prosecutor's
Office of the Russian Federation, initially as an investigator.[1][a] He had reached the position
of a Deputy Prosecutor by the time he left the military in 1999 in order to enter politics. In
2000 Voronenkov became an employee for the State Duma faction of the party Unity.[1] In
April 2001 Voronenkov was detained while taking a bribe of $10,000 to lobby for the
interest of Yevgeny Trostentsov in the State Duma, but the case was closed next July.[1] In
2001 he was shortly an advisor of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation before
becoming the Deputy Mayor of Naryan-Mar and Deputy Governor of Nenets Autonomous
District.[1] Voronenkov then worked for the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia from
2004 until 2007.[1][9][b] He then pursued an academic career as Associate Professor; his last
post before being elected an MP was (from February 2010) at the St. Petersburg Institute
of International Trade, Economics and Law.[1]
Political career[edit]
Voronenkov was elected as a deputy for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in
the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, in 2011. [3][7] As an MP, he
participated in making legislation that banned foreign ownership of Russian media, a move
that has been described as seriously curtailing media freedom in Russia.[7] He lost his bid
for reelection in September 2016, taking third place (13.99%) in constituency 129,
located in his native Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, well behind the winner, United
Russia candidate Vladimir Panov (42.39%).[1] He stepped down from the State Duma in
October.[10] Later that month, Voronenkov announced that he had given up his Russian
citizenship and left for Ukraine,[11][12] where he was naturalized as a Ukrainian citizen in
December.[4][13][14] Voronenkov said that he had no intention of entering Ukrainian politics.
[7]
He was expelled from the Communist Party in 2016. [1]
After Voronenkov moved to Ukraine, he became known as a sharp critic of Russian
president Vladimir Putin and Russian policy towards Ukraine. Before stepping down as an
MP in Russia, he had however taken part in the parliamentary vote to annex Crimea from
Ukraine, for which he was criticised in Ukraine.[3] Although his vote was registered, he
stated that he was not present in parliament on that day.[7] In 2014 he had also voiced
support for the breakaway regions of Novorossiya in the east of Ukraine, which added to
the criticism of him in Ukraine. In 2017 he was however an outspoken critic of Russian
intervention in Ukraine and elsewhere, e.g. in Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[7]In
an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in February 2017, Voronenkov
compared Russia under Vladimir Putin to Nazi Germany and called the Russian annexation
of Crimea both illegal and a mistake.[7] He described the atmosphere in Russia as
characterised by a "pseudo-patriotic frenzy" and "total fear".[7] At the time of his death, he
had been due to testify against former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.[15]
According to Voronenkov, he was persecuted in Russia by the Federal Security
Service whom he accused of being involved in drug trafficking. [4] In October 2016
the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office refused to launch a probe against Voronenkov
recommended by the Investigative Committee of Russia.[11] Nevertheless, Voronenkov was
accused later of being involved in an illegal property seizure (worth 127 million rubles[16]) in
Moscow.[11] Russian investigators were preparing a criminal case against Voronenkov, but
were waiting for his parliamentary immunity to run out in December 2016. [9] In March 2017 a
court in Moscow had sanctioned Voronenkov's arrest in absentia. [16] Voronenkov himself
dismissed the Russian accusations as politically motivated and stated that the Federal
Security Service had offered him to write off the accusations against him if he would pay
them US$3 million.[17][8]
Murder[edit]
Voronenkov was shot and killed in Kiev at as he left the Premier Palace hotel on 23 March
2017.[18][3] Ukraine's General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko stated that Voronenkov was shot at
least three times, including in the head, and died instantly.[15] He was on his way to meet Ilya
Ponomarev, another former Russian MP living in exile in Ukraine.[15] His assailant was
wounded by Voronenkov's bodyguard (this bodyguard was provided by the Ukrainian
Security Service)[3] and taken to hospital, where he later died from his wounds, according to
the authorities.[15] The gunman carried a Ukrainian passport and had been sought by the
police on fraud and money laundering charges, according to the General Prosecutor of
Ukraine.[15][19] Anton Gerashchenko, an official with Ukraine's Interior Ministry and a
Ukrainian lawmaker[20] said that the name of the gunman was Pavel Parshov, a Ukrainian
citizen and veteran of Ukraine's volunteer paramilitary unit.[20] He also said that Parshov was
planted by Russian services as an undercover agent into the National Guard of Ukraine.
[21]
A police spokesman said the murder was likely a contract killing.[10] Voronenkov's
bodyguard was also wounded during the incident.[3]
The president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko reacted to the murder by calling it an act of
Russian "state terrorism". Russian officials denied being involved and called the claims
"absurd".[15] Russian MP and former Director of the Russian Federal Security
Service Nikolay Kovalyov said to Russian TV that he believed the murder may be linked to
a business dispute.[15] Ponomarev reacted to the murder by stating: "I have no words. The
security guard was able to injure the attacker. The potential theory is obvious. Voronenkov
was not a crook, but an investigator who was fatally dangerous to Russian
authorities."[3] Lutsenko called the murder a "typical show execution of a witness by the
Kremlin."[22]
A little more than a month before his murder, Voronenkov said that he feared for his own
and his family's security, and that he had been "poking a sore spot of the Kremlin" with his
criticism of the Russian president.[7] In a March 2017 interview, he referred to
"demonization" in Russia and stated, "The system has lost its mind. They say we are
traitors in Russia. And I say, 'Who did we betray?"[23]
Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ During this period the Military Prosecutor's Office
was acting as the de facto military police of the Russian
Armed Forces, with some assistance from Ministry of
Internal Affairs OMON units.
References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o (Russian) Biography of
Denys Voronenkov, TASS news agency (23 March 2017)
12. Jump up^ Parfitt, Tom (23 March 2017). "Putin critic shot
dead in the streets of Kiev". The Times. Retrieved 23
March 2017.
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 78255028
LCCN: n2008057562
GND: 1128376474
Categories:
1971 births
2017 deaths
People from Nizhny Novgorod
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Communist Party of the Russian Federation members
Soviet Army officers
Russian military personnel
Members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)
21st-century Russian politicians
History of Russia (1992present)
Political repression
Deaths by firearm in Ukraine
People murdered in Ukraine
Assassinated Russian politicians
Russian defectors
Russian emigrants to Ukraine
Naturalized citizens of Ukraine
Russian people of Ukrainian descent
Ukrainian crisis
Cold War II
Russian people murdered abroad
Navigation menu
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history
Search
Go
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
etina
Deutsch
Eesti
Espaol
Franais
Bahasa Indonesia
Polski
Simple English
Trke
Ting Vit
Edit links
This page was last modified on 27 March 2017, at 18:16.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of
Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view