The Civil Guard is investigating whether the man shot dead last week in a garage in La Vila Joiosa is a Russian pilot who deserted last August, surrendering the helicopter he was piloting to the Ukrainian Army.
The Ukrainian media Kyiv Post reported this Monday that the representative of Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), Andri Yusov, has confirmed the death of the pilot who defected, Maxim Kuzminov, although he did not mention the place where the body was found.
A GUR source has told another Ukrainian media outlet, Ukrainska Pravda, that the pilot was shot dead and that a burned-out car was found near his home that could have been used by the murderers, all of which seems to coincide with what happened in the La Vila Joiosa murder, with the burned-out car abandoned in the neighbouring town of El Campello.
Initially the Civil Guard investigated the La Vila Joiosa shooting as a possible settling of scores, since the victim received up to half a dozen bullet wounds after entering the parking lot of the urbanization where he rented a property.
According to eyewitnesses, the vehicle in which the murderers fled drove over the victim’s arm.
According to sources familiar with the case the documentation found on the body does not correspond to Kuzminov although it is believed that this identity is false.
Investigators are almost positive that it is the pilot, but the official identification will not be known until his DNA is available to compare it with that of the victim.
According to the GUR source cited, Kuzminov had decided to live in Spain instead of staying in Ukraine.
The Russian’s defection became known in September last year when the Ukrainian GUR published images in which the pilot – who was 28 years old at the time – explained how he was contacted by enemy military intelligence, which offered him money and protection to defect to the Ukrainian side.
Kuzminov crossed the border flying below the radar along with other crew members who were unaware of the pilot’s plans, and who died when they tried to flee after the landing.
“If Maxim really did what he did, I hope they find him and kill him,” said the wife of one of the helicopter navigators, quoted by Russian television. Kuzminov’s crewmates were decorated post-mortem by Russian authorities.
