Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine killed in Spain
Al Jazeera
Spain’s EFE news agency says Maksim Kuzminov’s body was found on February 13 in southern town Villajoyosa.
The bullet riddled body of a Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine last year has been found in a town in southern Spain, according to Spanish and Ukrainian media.
Spain’s EFE news agency, in a report on Monday, said Maksim Kuzminov’s body was found in an underground garage on February 13 in the town of Villajoyosa, situated near Alicante in southern Spain.
Kuzminov, who had landed in Ukraine with his Mi-8 helicopter last August, had been living in Spain with a Ukrainian passport under a different name, it said.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence confirmed that Kuzminov had died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of death. Ukraine’s Ukrainska Pravda newspaper also reported that he had been found shot dead.
“We can confirm the fact of his death,” spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate Andriy Yusov said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine.
