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A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine by helicopter last year was found dead in an underground garage in Spain last week, riddled with bullets, Ukrainian and Spanish media reported on Monday, February 19th.
Spanish state news agency EFE said the body found on February 13 in the town of Villajoyosa, near Alicante in southern Spain, was that of pilot Maxim Kuzminov, who landed in Ukraine in an Mi-8 helicopter last August. Reported. The newspaper said the man was living in Spain under a different name and holding a Ukrainian passport.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence confirmed to Reuters that Kuzminov had died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of death. Ukraine’s Ukraiska Pravda newspaper also reported that he was found shot to death.
Spanish police confirmed that the body of a shooting victim was found in the town, but did not release the victim’s identity. An official with Spain’s Guardia civilian police told Reuters the victims may have been living under false identities.
Spain’s La Información newspaper, which first reported the shooting, said investigators were searching for two suspects who fled in a vehicle that was later found burnt out in a nearby town. I told you.
Kuzminov’s defection to Ukraine last year was presented as a major coup for Kiev. GUR said at the time that it lured him into exile.
Ukrainian-American blogger Igor Sushko lamented on X (formerly Twitter) that Kuzminov’s murder showed Europe was unable to protect its population from Russian assassins.
Read more at Euractiv
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