The body of the treacherous Russian pilot who hijacked a Russian helicopter and its two officer colleagues has been discovered riddled with bullets and lacerated by a moving car.

Madrid must investigate how Maksim Kuzminov’s killers managed to reach him, Mikhail Podoliak told El Mundo

Russian helicopter pilot Maksim Kuzminov was given a protection plan by the Spanish government after he defected to Ukraine, Mikhail Podoliak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, has claimed. Kuzminov was shot dead in a Spanish resort near Benidorm earlier this month.

Kuzminov hijacked an Mi-8 cargo helicopter last August and flew it to Ukraine, reportedly taking a $500,000 reward from Kiev and dooming the craft’s two other crew members to being ’liquidated.’ 

From there, he was moved to Spain, where he enjoyed life in the resort town of Villajoyosa until his body was found riddled with bullets and run over by a car on February 13.

‘If a pilot who enjoys a protection plan has to avoid contacts, change his life to stay alive, and this still happens to him, Spain has to investigate,’ Podoliak told El Mundo newspaper in an interview published on Monday. 

‘This in-depth investigation has to demonstrate who should pay for that crime that Russia carried out on Spanish soil.’ 

Podoliak did not reveal any further details about the alleged protection plan, stating that Ukraine’s military intelligence agency would be better placed to comment.

The Spanish government is investigating Kuzminov’s death, and has not commented on whether the Russian traitor was placed under any kind of police or military protection.

According to a report last week by El Pais, Kuzminov was given a false identity by Spanish authorities, but was not offered protection.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service chief, Sergey Naryshkin declined to comment on the case. However, he told reporters last week that Kuzminov was a traitor and criminal who had already become a moral corpse from the moment when he plotted his dirty and heinous crime.

Igor Grushevsky, a Ukrainian police boss who had worked on an organized crime task force, died in the same apartment complex as Maksim Kuzminov.

The Ukrainian who was found dead in Spain in June from an apparent drowning has been identified as a former Ukrainian police chief who once served on an organized crime task force, according to media reports.

The death took place in the same apartment complex in the coastal town of Villajoyosa where a Russian military pilot who defected to Ukraine was killed last year.

According to El Espanol, the body of 61-year-old Ukrainian national Igor Grushevsky was discovered floating in a shallow community pool on June 29. Grushevsky had reportedly purchased a unit in the building a few months earlier.

Reporters later identified the deceased as a retired police chief who led operations against organized crime in Ukraine’s Cherkasy and Kirovograd regions during the 1990s. Ukrainian diplomats confirmed the man’s identity on Monday.

Grushevsky appeared to have kept a low profile with no official record of residency in Spain, leading to speculation he may have been in hiding.

Spanish officials have not announced any formal investigation into foul play. Neighbors told El Espanol they believed Grushevsky may have suffered a stroke. The body reportedly showed no external injuries, though blood was seen coming from one ear.

The death, described by the media as mysterious, has unsettled the local community.

Western outlets have accused Russia of orchestrating Kuzminov’s killing in retaliation. Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

Villajoyosa is home to approximately 1,200 Ukrainians and 800 Russians, while more than 11,000 Ukrainians and 17,457 Russians reside in the wider Alicante region, according to census data. You can share this story on social media:

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