A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter has been found dead in Spain, according to Reuters
Reports in Spanish local media said that Maksim Kuzminov was found dead after allegedly moving to the town of Villajoyosa on the Mediterranean coast. His body was discovered last week at a car park underneath an apartment block.
The Spanish police initially thought that Kuzminov was shot in a gang-related violence before learning about the victim’s history.
In August 2023, Kuzminov intentionally landed his twin-engine Mi-8 AMTSh helicopter on Ukrainian territory. After landing, two of his crew members were killed while trying to escape.
The Ukranian intelligence agency boss Kuzminov back then had announced that his officers had persuaded Kuzminov to defect during an elaborate six-month operation. The pilot’s family was extracted from Russia prior to the operation.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence confirmed that Kuzminov had died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of death.
According to reports in the media, the pilot’s former girlfriend had found Kuzminov’s body.
Russian officials believe that reports about Kuzminov’s killing by Ukraine’s intelligence services were to fake the pilot’s death.
“Don’t get too excited,” Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in southern Ukraine, wrote on Telegram. “They want to create a new biography with a clean slate and a new name for the traitor,” The Guardian reported.
If the death is confirmed, the blame is likely to be pointed to the Kremlin. Russian officials have in the past carried out killings across Europe.
Yesterday, Yulia Navalnaya accused the Russian government of murdering her husband Alexei Navalny in a remote Arctic prison.
In 2019, two officers from the Russian military intelligence outfit allegedly tried to kill Russian double-agent Sergie Skripal.
In 2006, two assassins of the Russian intelligence agency poisoned Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko with a radioactive cup of tea.
