Ukraine President claims Russian 'state terrorism' killed former MP

Ukrainian police experts look for evidence next to the body of former Russian MP Denis Voronenkov after he was shot dead. Pic/AFP

Kiev: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday that the fatal shooting of a former Russian lawmaker in Kiev was an act of Russian "state terrorism".

Former parliamentarian Denis Voronenkov was killed outside a hotel in the Ukrainian capital earlier on Thursday. Voronenkov fled to Ukraine with his wife last year and was helping the Ukrainian authorities build a treason case against former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich.

Poroshenko said the killing "is an act of state terrorism on the part of Russia, which he was forced to leave for political reasons," Poroshenko said in a statement. Poroshenko said it was "no accident" that Voronenkov was shot on the same day as a warehouse storing tank ammunition was blown up at a Ukrainian military base. Moscow denied any involvement Voronenkov's murder.