Russian Pilot Who Defected to Ukraine Reportedly Died of Gunshot Wound in Spain

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster)

JAKARTA - A Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine in his helicopter last year was found dead in an underground garage in Spain last week, his body riddled with bullets, Ukrainian and Spanish media reported on Monday.

Spanish news agency EFE reported that the body found on February 13 in the town of Villajoyosa, near Alicante in southern Spain, belonged to pilot Maxim Kuzminov, reported by Reuters, February 20.

Spanish newspaper La Informacion, which first reported the shooting, said investigators were looking for two suspects who fled in a vehicle that was later found burned in a nearby town.

Kuzminov is known to have landed in Ukraine using the Mi-8 helicopter he flew in August last year, and then lived in Spain with a Ukrainian passport and using a different name.

A spokesman for Ukraine's GUR military intelligence confirmed to Reuters that Kuzminov died in Spain, but did not specify the cause of death.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian newspaper, Ukrainska Pravda also reported that he was found shot dead.

Spanish police have confirmed that a body of a shooting victim was found in the city, but have not revealed the victim's identity.

A source in Spain's Guardia Civil police told Reuters the victim may have been living under a fake identity.

Kuzminov's defection to Ukraine last year was seen as a major coup for Kyiv. GUR said at the time, they had persuaded him to defect.