In February, Maksim Kuzminov was found murdered in a parking garage. Photo: Rafa Arjones/Informacion.es / Reuters / NTB
Spain believes that Russia has upgraded its intelligence after the murder of the Russian defector Maksim Kuzminov.
Monday 1 April at 01:51
The short version
- Russian defector Maksim Kuzminov was killed in Spain in February.
- In 2023, Kuzminov flew a military helicopter from Russia into Ukraine. He settled after this in Villajoyosa in Spain.
- Now the Spanish authorities fear that Russia has upgraded its intelligence.
Sea view
Early in the morning of August 9, 2023, Maksim Kuzminov (28) from the Kursk region of Russia flew in a military helicopter.
The flight was supposed to be a normal delivery of cargo. He had two other soldiers with him in the helicopter.
Shortly after they got airborne, Kuzminov cut communication.
He dived to such a low altitude that he avoided the radars.
Then he crossed the border into Ukraine.
This photo is supposed to show Maksim Kuzminov right after he landed in Ukraine. Photo: Archive
In mid-February this year, Kuzminov was found shot dead in Spain.
Bullet casings from ammunition, which is common in Russia, were left at the scene, writes the New York Times.
– You will not regret
When Maksim Kuzminov landed in Ukraine, the helicopter was reportedly shot at by Ukrainian forces. He himself is said to have been shot in the foot.
What happened to the other two in the helicopter is unknown.
Maksim Kuzminov himself has said that they ran towards the Russian border after they landed in Ukraine.
On September 5, 2023, Maksim Kuzminov told about the dramatic escape. Photo: Vladyslav Musiienko / AP / NTB
The whole thing must have been agreed with the Ukrainian authorities, who paid him NOK 5 million for it.
Kuzminov has urged other Russians to do the same as him.
– You will not regret it, he said last September.
Settled in Spain
Maksim Kuzminov is said to have considered joining the Ukrainian military and fighting against his homeland.
But he chose to leave Ukraine as well.
He traveled to Spain in October and got an apartment in Villajoyosa, a short walk from the beach.
The New York Times writes that this was a strange choice. There are many Russian spies based here.
According to the Spanish authorities, this is a known base for Russians linked to organized crime and the intelligence service, writes the newspaper.
Her skal Maksim Kuzminov ha bodd. Photo: EVA MANEZ / Reuters / NTB
Another defector the New York Times spoke to says Villajoyosa is full of Russian spies.
– I would never go there, he tells the newspaper anonymously.
In 2020, more than 20 people linked to Russian criminal groups were arrested in Spain.
Among other things, for planned murders.
Spain’s annual report on national security threats says Russia has upgraded its intelligence operations.
The spies are looking for ways to “destabilize Spain’s support for NATO,” says the report, published by the New York Times.
Killed in parking garage
On Tuesday 13 February, a white Hyundai Tucson drove into the garage under the apartment building where Maksim Kuzminov lived.
The two men in the car parked and waited there for several hours, writes the New York Times.
In this garage, Maksim Kuzminov was found dead. Photo: EVA MANEZ / Reuters / NTB
At about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Kuzminov came home. He got out of his own car and passed the white Hyundai.
The two men got out of the car and shouted at him, before they opened fire.
Crime scene technicians work at the site where Maksim Kuzminov was found dead. Photo: Rafa Arjones/Informacion.es / Reuters / NTB
Kuzminov was shot six times, before the killers got back in the car and ran over his body as they left the scene, writes the New York Times.
The car the killers were driving was found some distance away, burnt out. It turned out that the car was stolen two days before the murder in the city of Murcia.
also read
2024-03-31 23:51:40
#Russian #defector #killed #Spain #Fears #espionage #Russia
