Russian Helicopter Pilot Who Defected Found Dead In Spain

Last August, Maxim Kuzminov took a Russian Mi-8 military helicopter and defected to Ukraine. He seems to have shot two other Russian pilots and was acting on his own by Ukrainian officials who rewarded him with $500,000, a Ukrainian passport, and a new identity. Kuzminov should have stayed in the relative safety of Ukraine because he should have known his days were numbered. Russia looks very unfavourably on traitors, and the FSB finally located Kuzminov and reportedly dispatched him with multiple gunshots in the parking garage of his Spanish apartment building.

Source: The Independent

A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine last year with a Mi-8 helicopter has been found dead in an underground garage in Spain, Ukrainian officials said.

The body of pilot Maxim Kuzminov was found on 13 February with multiple bullet wounds in southern Spain’s coastal town of Villajoyosa in Alicante, reported Ukrainian and Spanish media on Monday.

Kuzminov defected to Ukraine in August last year and reached the country in a Russian Mi-8 helicopter. He was reportedly living under a different name and identity in Spain with a Ukrainian passport, the report added.

His defection was seen as a major coup for Kyiv following a six-month-long intelligence operation. Ukrainian officials confirmed they had lured him into defecting and arranged for him to land the Mi-8 in Kharkiv.

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