A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine in his helicopter last year was found dead in an underground garage in Spain last week, his body riddled with bullets, Ukrainian and Spanish media reported today.
The Spanish news agency EFE reported that a body found on February 13 in the town of Villajoyosa, near Alicante, in southern Spain, belongs to pilot Maxim Kuzminov, who had landed his helicopter, an Mi-8, in Ukraine last August. He was living in Spain with a Ukrainian passport and a different name.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service confirmed to Reuters that Kuzminov had died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of his death. And the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda writes that a body was found with bullet wounds.
Russian pilot who defected found dead in Spain, says Ukraine security agency https://t.co/WOaTrcKcJK
— The Guardian (@guardian) February 19, 2024
Spanish police confirmed that a body was found with bullet wounds, but did not release the identity of the victim. A source in the Spanish gendarmerie force told Reuters the victim may have been using a false identity.
Spanish newspaper La Informacion, which first reported the shooting, says investigators are looking for two suspects who fled in a vehicle, which was later found burned out in a nearby town.
The car in which the killers allegedly fled was found burned 20 kilometers from the murder scene.
The police have a version according to which the Ukrainian special services eliminated Kuzminov as an inconvenient witness. pic.twitter.com/tyXLYownWg
— Nothing to see (@Wagnersfamily) February 19, 2024
Kuzminov’s defection to Ukraine was presented last year as a major success for Kiev. GUR said at the time that it had encouraged the Russian pilot to defect.
Source: RES-MPE
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