Moscow welcomes reports of the death of a rogue pilot
A senior Russian official welcomed media reports on Tuesday about the death of a Russian army helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine, which has not yet been confirmed by local authorities. “This traitor and criminal had become a moral corpse from the moment he planned his despicable and terrible crime,” said Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) director Sergei Naryshkin, quoted by the official TASS agency. However, he neither confirmed nor denied Russia's involvement in this alleged death.
The pilot in question, Maxim Kouzminov, deserted aboard a Russian Army Mi-8 helicopter in August 2023 as a sign of his opposition to the conflict in Ukraine and returned to territory under Ukrainian control. Departing from a base in the Kursk region, he claimed in a video released in September by Ukrainian Military Intelligence (GUR) that he had flown at “extremely low altitude and in radio silence mode” to avoid detection.
According to the GUR, the two comrades accompanying him – who knew nothing of his plan – were killed by Ukrainian forces while trying to escape in Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin Russian media accuse the pilot of shooting down the two men.
Maxime Kouzminov said he secretly organized his defection with the Ukrainian services over months. And he urged other Russian soldiers to do the same.
On Monday, Spanish media reported that he was found dead and shot in the southeastern town of Villajoyosa. Local authorities said they recently found a body there but have not yet confirmed its identity. According to a Spanish judicial source, who also did not confirm the identity, the man killed in Villajoyosa had identification documents corresponding to a 33-year-old Ukrainian.