A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine with his helicopter has been found dead in Spain, Reuters reports.
Maxim Kuzminov was found dead after traveling to the Mediterranean town of Villajoyosa, local Spanish media reported. His body was discovered last week in the parking lot below his apartment building.
Spanish police initially believed Kuzminov had been shot in a gang-related assault, before learning the victim’s background.
In August 2023, Kuzminov deliberately landed a twin-engine helicopter Mi-8 AMTSh on Ukrainian territory. Two crew members died while escaping after landing.
Kuzminov, then the head of Ukraine’s intelligence service, said in a statement that senior officials persuaded him to defect during an elaborate six-month operation. The pilot’s family was rescued from Russia before the operation.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence confirmed that Kuzminov died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of death.
Media reports said Kuzminov’s body was discovered by the pilot’s ex-girlfriend.
Russian officials believe that Ukrainian intelligence reports about Kuzminov’s killing were a fabrication of the pilot’s death.
“Don’t get too excited,” Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in southern Ukraine, wrote on Telegram. “With a clean slate, they want to create a new biography of the traitor with a new name,” the Guardian reported.
If the death is confirmed, the blame will likely be placed on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have carried out killings across Europe in the past.
Yulia Navalnaya yesterday accused the Russian government of killing her husband Alexei Navalny in a remote prison in the Arctic Circle.
In 2019, two Russian military intelligence officers allegedly tried to kill Russian double agent Sergiy Skripal.
In 2006, two Russian intelligence assassins poisoned Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive tea.