Maxim Kuzminov—the Russian Mi-8 helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine—was found dead and riddled with bullets in an underground garage in Villajoyosa near Alicante, in Spain's Valencia region last week.
Spanish state news agency EFE reported on Monday, Feb. 19, that the body found on Feb. 13 by police belonged to Kuzminov.
The slain pilot has been living in Spain with a Ukrainian passport under a different name.
A spokesperson for Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) confirmed to Reuters that Kuzminov had died in Spain but did not specify the cause of death. However, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported that he had been found shot dead.
Local media further reported that Spanish authorities are searching for two suspects who fled the scene in a vehicle that was later found burnt out in a nearby town.
Dead Man Walking
It was previously reported that Kuzminow defected to Ukraine last August while flying a Russian Mi-8 helicopter alongside two other crew members. At the time, it was said that he was lured by Ukrainian intelligence personnel, flying between two Russian air bases and transporting parts for Su-27 and Su-30SM fighter jets.
The two crew members were not informed of Kuzminov's intention to defect and were neutralized as a result. The pilot's family was the first to be taken out of Russia and into Ukraine to prepare for his defection.
There was no further information regarding the welfare and whereabouts of Kuzminov's family.
Ukrainian authorities added that they had offered him the opportunity to stay in Ukraine and that he was in the process of inviting his spouse to join him in Spain before he was found shot to death.
While there was no official comment from Russian authorities, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) director Sergei Naryshkin said that Kuzminov was already dead by the time he defected to the Ukrainian side.
"This traitor and criminal became a moral corpse at the very moment when he planned his dirty and terrible crime," he said.
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