Moscow welcomes reports of death of defected pilot
A senior Russian official welcomed media reports on Tuesday of the death in Spain, as yet unconfirmed by local authorities, of a Russian army helicopter pilot who had defected to the ‘Ukraine. “This traitor and criminal had become a moral corpse from the moment he planned his despicable and terrible crime”, declared the director of the Russian foreign intelligence service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, quoted by the official TASS agency. However, he did not confirm or deny Russian involvement in this supposed death.
The pilot in question, Maxim Kouzminov, deserted in August 2023 aboard a Russian army Mi-8 helicopter, as a sign of opposition to the conflict in Ukraine, and returned to the territory under Ukrainian control. Leaving from a base in the Kursk region, he claimed, in a video released in September by Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), to have stolen from a “extremely low altitude, in radio silence mode” to avoid being spotted.
According to the GUR, the two comrades accompanying him – who were unaware of his plan – were killed by Ukrainian forces while trying to escape, once they arrived in Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin Russian media accuse the pilot of having shot down the two men.
Maxime Kouzminov said he had secretly organized his defection for months with the Ukrainian services. And he called on other Russian soldiers to do the same.
On Monday, Spanish media said he had been found dead, shot, in the town of Villajoyosa (South-East). Local authorities said they recently found a body there, but have not yet confirmed its identity. According to a Spanish judicial source, which also does not confirm the identity, the man killed in Villajoyosa had on him identity papers corresponding to a 33-year-old Ukrainian.