A man found riddled with bullets and run over by a car last week in Spain is Russian defector Maksym Kuzminov, who flew a military helicopter to Ukraine in a dramatic operation, according to Ukrainian officials.
The body was found at the entrance to a residential complex in Villajoyosa, in Alicante, and witnesses told local media that gunmen shot him several times, then ran him over and escaped in a car. Spanish police had originally been investigating the crime as a case of score-settling but now believe there is a wider international dimension — potentially the latest example of Russian special services carrying out an assassination on European soil.
The spokesman for Ukraine’s intelligence service, Andriy Yusov, confirmed to The Washington Post on Tuesday that the body was that of Kuzminov.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, warned that the assassination could embolden Russians to take more such actions.
“If the Russians feel so empowered within the European Union that they start killing people, the question becomes quite complex. This is not the first instance where Russians behave this way,” he told Ukrainska Pravda late Monday.
Spain’s Interior Ministry would not confirm the identity of the body, which it described as bullet riddled, but acknowledged in a statement that further investigation into the case was needed. Investigators had initially believed the person who died was a Ukrainian by a different name.
“In the course of the investigation that is being carried out, it has come to our attention that the identity of this person could be false and could be that of another individual. The Guardia Civil is proceeding to verify this, but we are unable to provide any further information at this time,” it said.
Spanish media cited sources inside the Guardia Civil confirming that the body belonged to Kuzminov.
On the Russian side, some have already been celebrating the death. Pro-Kremlin blogger Sergei Markov posted on Telegram that Kuzminov was “eliminated.”
“We will not rejoice in anyone’s death. But this news can save many lives, because it reminds everyone: save your lives and never cooperate with the Ukrainian neo-fascist regime in anything,” he said.
Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, said Tuesday that Kuzminov was dead the moment he started planning his defection. “In Russia, it is common to speak well of the dead or nothing at all. This traitor and criminal became a moral corpse already at the moment when he was planning his dirty and terrible crime.”
A month after the announcement about his defection, Russian television aired a 10-minute documentary in which experts opined that Kuzminov must have killed his fellow servicemen in the helicopter during the operation, and vowed revenge.
According to the program, Russia’s military intelligence, known as GRU, had already received an order to eliminate him. “He will not live to see the trial,” said a fighter with this face hidden on the show.
Ukraine announced with great fanfare in August an intelligence operation that persuaded Kuzminov to fly his Mi-8 helicopter loaded with jet parts into Ukraine to defect. The two crew members with him were unaware of the plot and were shot by Ukrainian forces when they refused to surrender, according to officials.
The Ukrainian government later announced that the pilot had received a $500,000 reward in local currency and encouraged other Russian service members to follow suit.
Paul Schemm in London contributed to this report.