A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine last year in a secret operation has been found dead in Spain, according to the main military intelligence agency in Kyiv.
Reports in Russian and Spanish media on Monday said Maksim Kuzminov was found dead after allegedly moving to the town of Villajoyosa in Alicante on the Mediterranean coast, in an area popular with holidaymakers.
Spanish police had initially thought the shooting was gang-related before reportedly learning of the victim’s extraordinary backstory and his former role in Russia’s war and invasion.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s GUR intelligence agency, said his officers had persuaded Kuzminov to defect during an elaborate six-month operation.
Some Russian commentators close to the Russia’s defence ministry claimed reports about Kuzminov’s killing were planted by Ukraine’s intelligence services to fake the pilot’s death.
In 2006, two killers working for Moscow’s federal security service, the FSB, poisoned the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko with a radioactive cup of tea.
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