Maxim Kuzminov’s body was found with gunshot wounds near Alicante in southern Spain last week.
A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine last year has reportedly been found dead in an underground parking garage in Spain.
Maxim Kuzminov’s body was found with gunshot wounds on February 13 in the town of Villajoyosa, near Alicante in southern Spain.
Spanish media reported that investigators were searching for two suspects who fled in a car that was later found burnt out in a nearby town.
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in flight between two people Russia The air base was removed in August last year, but Kuzminov instead landed in Kharkov, Ukraine, in an Mi-8 helicopter as part of a covert operation.
ukraineGUR military intelligence said it lured him into exile.
At the time of his defection, Russian state media claimed that Kuzminov had shot and killed two helicopter crew members who were unhappy about landing in Ukraine.
Kuzminov was also shot in the leg during the flight, but it is unclear who shot him.
In an interview broadcast by Ukrainian authorities at the time, Kuzminov said: “I contacted a representative of the Ukrainian intelligence service, explained my situation, and they suggested this option: “Now, we will take care of your safety.” “We guarantee new documents, we guarantee financial compensation.”, “Reward”.
Video showing the battle of Avdiivka
In another documentary, Kuzminov accused Putin of committing “genocide” in Ukraine.
He said he was “very angry about what’s going on.” [in Ukraine]. Murder, tears, and blood. It’s just people killing each other.
“What is happening now is nothing but a massacre of the Ukrainian people, both Ukrainians and Russians.”
Leaders of Russia’s GRU military intelligence unit previously said on Russian state television that they had received orders for Kuzminov’s execution.
“We will find this man and punish him to the fullest extent of our laws for betraying his fellow man,” one police officer said.
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Russian state media blamed Ukraine for Kuzminov’s death, and TASS claimed that “Ukrainian intelligence services could have been eliminated.” [Mr Kuzminov] as an inconvenient witness. ”
Kuzminov is believed to have been living in Spain under a different name and holding a Ukrainian passport. His wife and children were taken to Ukraine before his defection.
His death came just days after President Vladimir Putin’s main opponent alexei navalny He died in a penal colony in the North Pole.
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Kuzminov is not the first Russian dissident to be killed in Europe.
Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London in 2006 after being forced to drink tea containing radioactive substances. A subsequent public investigation concluded that Putin “probably” personally instructed Moscow’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, to arrange the murder.
In 2018, two GRU officers allegedly tried to kill a Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.