A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine final yr has reportedly been discovered useless in an underground automotive park in Spain.
Maxim Kuzminov’s physique was discovered with gunshot wounds on 13 February within the city of Villajoyosa, close to Alicante in southern Spain.
Spanish media reported that investigators have been trying to find two suspects who had fled in a car that was later discovered burnt out in a close-by city.
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During a flight between two Russian air bases final August, Mr Kuzminov as an alternative landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine together with his Mi-8 helicopter as a part of a secret operation.
Ukraine‘s GUR army intelligence stated it had lured him into defecting.
Russian state media claimed on the time of the defection that Mr Kuzminov shot and killed two crew members on board the helicopter who have been sad about touchdown in Ukraine.
Mr Kuzminov was additionally shot within the leg through the flight, nevertheless it was unclear by whom.
In an interview broadcast by Ukraine’s authorities on the time, Mr Kuzminov stated: “I contacted representatives of Ukrainian intelligence, explained my situation, to which they offered this option: ‘Come on, we guarantee your safety, guarantee new documents, guarantee monetary compensation, a reward’.”
In a separate documentary, Mr Kuzminov accused Putin of committing “genocide” in Ukraine.
He stated: “I am very offended by what is happening now [in Ukraine]. Murder, tears, blood. Just people killing each other.
“What is occurring now’s simply genocide of the Ukrainian individuals, each Ukrainian and Russian.”
Officers from Russia’s GRU military intelligence outfit had previously said on Russian state television that they received the order for Mr Kuzminov’s execution.
One officer said: “We’ll discover the person and punish him for betraying his brothers to the fullest extent of our nation’s legislation.”
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Russian state media blamed Ukraine for Mr Kuzminov’s dying, with TASS claiming: “Ukrainian intelligence agencies could have eliminated [Mr Kuzminov] as an inconvenient witness.”
Mr Kuzminov is believed to have been dwelling in Spain with a Ukrainian passport below a unique identify. His spouse and kids have been dropped at Ukraine earlier than he defected.
His dying comes simply days after Vladimir Putin’s foremost opponent Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony.
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Mr Kuzminov shouldn’t be the primary Russian dissident to be killed in Europe.
Alexander Litvinenko was killed after he was given a radioactive cup of tea in London in 2006. A public inquiry subsequently concluded that Putin had “probably” personally instructed Moscow’s federal safety service, the FSB, to rearrange the homicide.
In 2018, two officers from the GRU allegedly tried to kill the Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
Source: information.sky.com”