A body in Spain sparks speculation about the Kremlin’s reach

Russian pilot Maksim Kuzminov helped Ukraine when he defected to his country and left the war. His body is now believed to have been found dead.

Last summer Maksim Kuzminov made a daring escape, defecting to Ukraine handed over his military helicopter to the Ukrainian commandos in exchange for half a million dollars.

Ukraine called the defection a masterstroke. But in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Kuzminov was guilty of the gravest sin anyone could commit: betrayal.

Ukrainian intelligence officials warned him that his life was in danger and asked him not to leave the country.

But he ignored the recommendation and the pilot is believed to have moved with his own money to a small tourist town with pastel-coloured houses on Spain’s Mediterranean coast.

Now, Kuzminov, who was 28 at the time of his defection, appears to have met the harsh fate that Ukrainian authorities had warned him about.

Two Spanish police officers familiar with the case said the body of a man had been found riddled last week in the coastal town of Villajoyosa, belonged to Kuzminov.

Andriy Cherniak, representative of Ukrainian military intelligence, also said that he could “confirm the fact of his death”, referring to Kuzminov, but He declined to provide further details. on the circumstances.

Secret data

Authorities have not released any information about the possible attackers or their motives, nor have they publicly confirmed their identities.

The case was complicated by strange statements from the Guardia Civil, a branch of the Spanish police force, which at one point said that documents found on the body identified him as a 33-year-old Ukrainian.

But they added that the documents could be fake.

The death of such a high-profile defector risks fueling speculation that it was the work of Russian secret services and exacerbating already high tensions between Moscow and European capitals.

President Vladimir Putin He has made no secret of his deep contempt for defectors and has authorized the targeted killing of Russian informants abroad, Western security officials said.

Moscow’s foreign intelligence chief appears to support the idea that Kuzminov is dead by making comments condemning his defection.

“This traitor and criminal has become a moral corpse at the moment when he planned his dirty and terrible crime,” Sergei Naryshkin told Russian state news agency TASS on Tuesday, commenting on media reports about Kuzminov’s death.

The news of Kuzminov’s death became known a few days later Alexei NavalnyPutin’s most prominent political opponent, has died in a Russian prison, demonstrating what several Western leaders have denounced as the Kremlin’s cruel tactics against its opponents.

“Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” US President Joe Biden said on Friday.

Ukrainian authorities said Kuzminov’s defection was the culmination of a six-month operation, code-named “Titmouse,” that became public in late August.

In a documentary released by the secret service, Kuzminov stated that he had “contacted representatives of the Ukrainian secret service” and agreed to cooperate after being told that his safety in Ukraine would be guaranteed and that he would receive new security documents. identity and compensation.

Kuzminov said he flew his Mi-8 helicopter into Ukrainian territory at low altitude and in radio silence to avoid detection.

He landed in Vovchansk, a city near Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia, where Ukrainian special forces were waiting for him, according to documentary material.

The operation to seize Kuzminov’s plane did not go well at all.

When his Russian crewmates saw Ukrainian commandos surrounding the helicopter, they tried to force Kuzminov to take off and opened fire.

Ukrainian fighter jets returned fire, killing the crew, the Ukrainian official said.

“Otherwise they could have killed Kuzminov and escaped with the helicopter,” he said. Kuzminov was also injured during the operation.

In the documentary he said he defected because he opposed Russia’s war in Ukraine and did not want to contribute to it.

He encouraged other Russian military personnel to follow in his footsteps.

“Of course if you do what I did, this kind of action, you won’t regret it at all,” he said.

Propaganda

His defection was presented as a masterstroke for Kiev, as he provided valuable aircraft to Ukraine’s depleted air fleet, as well as intelligence on Russian military operations from a highly trained pilot.

Kuzminov provided “valuable evidence about the Russian Army’s aviation, its communications systems and network of airfields for our military intelligence,” according to the documentary, which compared the defection to Operation Diamond, a Mossad intelligence mission Israeli to capture a MiG-21 fighter plane built by the Soviets and flown by an Iraqi defector. Ukraine said it was the first time a Russian pilot had defected since it invaded Moscow in February 2022.

“Kuzminov had access to state secrets. He carried documents and classified items on board the captured helicopter,” a representative of the Russian counterintelligence services said on Russian television in a report on the defection.

Ukrainian authorities said the pilot’s family had been moved from Russia to Ukraine before defecting. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the secret service, told Ukrainian television that Kuzminov would receive a reward of $500,000 for his services.

After the invasion of Ukraine, Spain became a haven for disenchanted Russiansmany of which have moved to warmer coastal areas, according to data from the country’s National Institute of Statistics.

About 20% live in Alicante province, where Kuzminov’s body is believed to have been found.

Kuzminov’s activities in Ukraine, and later in Spain, are still unclear. In Spain he lived in a modest condominium near the beach, less than a 10-minute walk away, in a neighborhood frequented by Ukrainian and Russian tourists.

The Russian television report included Russian intelligence officials anonymously saying they would seek revenge.

“Of course we will find him,” one of them said. “Our long arms can reach anywhere.”

José Bautista and Rachel Chaundler contributed reporting.