Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine shot dead in Spain: Reports

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Maxim Kuzminov, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine last summer, was shot dead in Spain this month, according to Spanish news agency EFE.

Spanish police originally investigated his death as gang-related, according to EFE.

He was shot several times in an underground parking lot in the resort town of Villajoyosa, Alicante, the report said. At the time of the incident, he was also carrying an ID with a different name and age.

Those, suspected to have murdered Kuzminov, then lit the car they were driving on fire to conceal the evidence.

His murder came a little over a year after he collaborated with the Ukraine military to fly a Russian armored combat Mi-8 helicopter to a Ukrainian airbase.

Two of the other crew members on the helicopter refused to surrender and “lost their lives upon landing,” according to a documentary released by Ukraine’s intelligence service.

In the documentary, according to Kyiv Post, Kuzminov called the Russian invasion “a genocide of the Ukraine people,” and said he “did not want to be an accomplice to Russian crimes.”

In exchange for the dramatic defection, he was also offered security guarantees, new documents, and a payment.

A source from the Ukrainian intelligence service told the Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda that Kuzminov had decided to move to Spain instead of staying in Ukraine.

Kuzminov was involved in the first Ukrainian operation in which special forces managed to capture a new Russian aircraft in combat condition, according to the Kyiv Post. The operation also acquired valuable documentation and technical equipment for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia’s military opened a treason case against Kuzminov and gave post-mortem military honors to his crewmates who died in the operation, according to EFE.

"If Maxim really did what he did, I hope they find him and kill him," the wife of one of the helicopter navigators told Russian television, according to the same report.