Murder in Spain: lights and shadows in the death of Russian defector Maxim Kuzminov

Russian Army Captain Maxim Kuzminov, a helicopter pilot, defected in August and surrendered to the Ukrainian authorities. Half a year later, his body, still without official identification, lies in the Alicante Institute of Legal Medicine after having been shot in the parking lot of a residential estate in Villajoyosa, a city on Spain’s Mediterranean coast located near the popular tourist resort of Benidorm. The victim was carrying fake ID. His murder, attributed by the Spanish intelligence services to a direct order from Russian authorities, as EL PAÍS reported on Thursday, is being investigated by the Civil Guard, a national law enforcement agency, under strict secrecy and with oversight by an investigating court in the city of Alicante. There are a few known facts about how he arrived in Spain and how his life ended. But many more gaps remain.

Identity. It was Ukraine that confirmed that the body was that of Maxim Kuzminov, a pilot who landed his helicopter at the Kharkiv air base in August without informing the rest of his crew about his decision to defect. After receiving a reward of $500,000 from Kyiv, Moscow put a price on his head and opened a court case for treason.

Arrival in Spain. According to Spanish government sources, it was Kuzminov himself who chose to settle in Villajoyosa, a coastal town with a registered population of around 36,000, which includes 1,200 Ukrainians and 800 Russians, according to the latest municipal records. The Spanish government provided him with fake ID, but not protection. There is also no evidence that he had ever traveled to Spain before. The Russian soldier chose to settle in a building in La Cala, a residential area by the beach located at the northern end of Villajoyosa. Although this part of town is full of establishments specializing in Eastern European products, Kuzminov favored those with a predominantly Spanish client base, perhaps to avoid being recognized. His neighbors were almost all foreigners spending the low season in town, and barely knew one another. The defector kept mostly to himself did not engage in conversation.

Death. On February 13, at 4:48 p.m., the 112 emergency services received an alert about a possible accident inside a parking lot of the apartment block where Kuzminov resided, located on Marinada Street. Several units from the Villajoyosa local police, whose precinct is just 50 meters away, arrived at the scene. The shooting took place inside one of the two parking lots on the property, where two large gates and a pedestrian access located at the end of a steeply sloping ramp lead to several floors of private spaces for vehicles. As soon as they arrived, the agents discovered bullet casings. A body was lying on the ground with bullet wounds and signs of having been run over, according to Civil Guard sources. The Judicial Police unit of this law enforcement agency took charge of the investigation after receiving the notice from the local police. A passport found among the victim’s belongings identified him as a 33-year-old citizen of Ukraine. An investigating court in Villajoyosa took charge of the case, opened homicide proceedings and ordered the removal of the body, which was transferred to the Alicante Institute of Legal Medicine, where it remains to date. A few days after the discovery of the body, the vehicle used in the crime was found, charred, near the entrance to one of the many hidden coves in the neighboring town of El Campello.

False identity. Investigators discovered that the homicide victim’s passport was fake. The Civil Guard ordered a fingerprint scan as well as DNA and dental analysis to try to establish the real identity of the deceased. The conclusive results of these tests are yet to be submitted in the preliminary autopsy report. The procedure for notifying the next of kin, as well as to summon the relevant parties for the future trial, has not been initiated, since for the moment the investigation is still focusing on verifying the identity of the victim and clarifying the facts surrounding his death.

The facts. Some witnesses told the local police that they had seen a car leave the parking lot where Kuzminov was shot at great speed. It has not been clarified whether a single perpetrator or more were traveling in the car, although Spanish intelligence sources assume that it was two gunmen who crossed the border into Spain to do the job and probably left again.

The trail. How Kuzminov’s hideout was found out by those who were after him for being “a traitor” is also under investigation. There are two main theories. One is that he was recognized by a fellow Russian. There are 17,500 registered Russian citizens in Villajoyosa, which lies close to Altea, another coastal town with a large Russian community. The second theory, the one backed by the Ukrainian secret services, is that the pilot called his girlfriend to ask her to come visit him at his new Spanish residence. The investigation remains underway and under wraps.

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