The first individual to identify the physique was an aged Spanish man who mistook it for a drunk handed out on the entrance of the parking storage.

Then he noticed the blood darkening the dead man’s chest — and a white automotive flashing previous him, dashing up the ramp and into the night time.

“He had no less than six bullet wounds. He was carrying one thing like a jacket,” the person recalled. “You might see blood.”

The dead man was carrying a faux Ukrainian passport, figuring out him as Ihor Schevchenko, 33 years outdated, so it took a number of days for information of his true id to trickle out.

At first, the rumors flitted via Russia-affiliated information retailers and posts on the messaging app Telegram. Finally, on Feb. 19, 2024, practically every week after the physique was discovered, Ukrainian officers confirmed it belonged to Maxim Kuzminov, a former Russian helicopter pilot who had carried out a high-profile defection the summer time earlier than, flying his car throughout the entrance line and delivering it to Ukraine.

Celebrated with fanfare in Kyiv, Kuzminov had been rewarded with cash and promised safety, whilst Russia declared him a traitor and referred to as for his demise.

And so the query then turned: What was Kuzminov doing in Spain? Ukraine had hoped his defection would serve for instance for others courageous sufficient to withstand the Russian regime. So how did he come to finish up dead, bleeding out on the ground of a parking storage?

The making of a defector

Kuzminov was born in Arsenyev, a city positioned close to the Sea of Japan, nearly as distant from Ukraine because it’s doable to get and nonetheless be in Russia.

Russian media experiences say he got here from humble beginnings; little is understood about his father, however his mom was reportedly a seamstress who at one level dabbled in enterprise with close by China and South Korea. Both have been largely absent, in line with the experiences. 

Kuzminov’s fundamental parental determine was his grandfather, a embellished army pilot who would take his six-year-old grandchild alongside on his flights, transmitting his ardour to his younger cost. Kuzminov attended a army academy within the metropolis of Syzran and, after commencement, he joined the Russian armed forces as a helicopter pilot. 

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Kuzminov immediately discovered himself confronted by the truth of conflict — transporting troops, cargo and army tools in service of a conflict he would later say he didn’t consider in.

“When all this started on Feb. 24, I cried, I used to be scared,” Kuzminov recounted in September after his defection. “How might we begin a conflict in opposition to such a lovely nation? I went to church, lit candles with one want: that all the pieces can be over as quickly as doable.”

It was someday across the first anniversary of the invasion that Kuzminov began secretly speaking with Ukrainian intelligence.

As a part of an operation referred to as “Synytsia,” Ukraine had supplied rewards of between $10,000 to $1 million to Russian troopers who defected with their tools.

Outnumbered and under-equipped, Kyiv hoped that it might weaken Russia from inside, by convincing the Kremlin’s troopers to show their backs on the conflict effort.

Kuzminov was among the many first to take up the supply. 

On Aug. 9, 2023, Kuzminov put his plan into motion. Lifting off in a Mi-8 transport helicopter from the Kursk airport close to Ukraine, he flew towards the border, maintaining low to the bottom and sustaining radio silence.

The two different crewmembers on board, with whom Kuzminov had solely shortly earlier than frolicked at a lakeside barbecue, had no concept what was taking place.

What passed off subsequent is disputed. According to the model put ahead by Ukrainian officers, Kuzminov was wounded within the leg because the helicopter crossed the border, probably by Russian small-arms hearth. Once he landed, his two companions tried to flee again to Russia, solely to be shot by Ukrainian troopers.

The model put ahead by some Russian state media claims that Kuzminov killed the 2 troopers himself earlier than touchdown.

Regardless of what truly occurred, his defection supplied Ukraine with a public relations bonanza and Kyiv mined it for all it was value. 

 “This operation could have penalties for the ethical and psychological state of Russia, in addition to for protection,” Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian army intelligence official, advised reporters.

Over the subsequent few weeks, the baby-faced pilot held a press convention, gave a number of interviews and was featured in a documentary. As promised, Kuzminov was given $500,000. 

During a press convention on Sept. 5, 2023, Kuzminov’s first public look after his defection, the Russian pilot appeared nervous, addressing a big room crammed with news-hungry reporters.

“What was the impetus for the choice to modify to the aspect of Ukraine?” he mentioned. “I made a decision for myself that this was probably the most brutal crime. And I merely won’t participate on this.”

Shortly after, a Ukrainian blogger posted one other interview with Kuzminov on YouTube. Dressed in a grey denim jacket, a white T-shirt and shorts, which revealed a bandage on his left leg, Kuzminov advised his interviewer: “I like my nation, Russia. But I don’t like my state.”

In Russia, any criticism of the Kremlin or the conflict is invariably demonized as an try and undermine the nation from inside. Kuzminov’s phrases — and the pair of Captain America socks pulled midway up his shins —  have been seen as tantamount to a declaration of conflict.

At dwelling, his defection turned him into probably the most hated man within the nation — not only for switching sides but additionally for the deaths of the 2 different servicemen on his helicopter. Within days, demise threats flooded his social media accounts. A person claiming to be his father publicly disowned him. State tv lambasted him as “the traitor Kuzminov.” 

In October, shortly after his defection, a flagship information program aired a phase that includes masked males it recognized as GRU brokers planning to hunt him down. “The order has already been given,” the narrator of the phase mentioned. “It is only a matter of time earlier than it is going to be carried out.”

Asked on the press convention how he felt concerning the menace to his life, Kuzminov answered: “I’m a really non secular individual. God gave me life; he’ll take it away. Yes, it’s scary, however concern is humiliating. I’m not afraid of something anymore.

“As for shifting someplace in Europe, there’s a risk, I’ll give it some thought too,” he mentioned.

Death in Villajoyosa

Less than half a yr later, unbeknownst to the world, Kuzminov was dwelling in Villajoyosa, a seashore city of about 35,000 folks about an hour from Alicante on Spain’s southeastern coast. 

By all appearances, he had turned a web page on his previous, main a life that to him, who’d grown up within the impoverished Russian province, will need to have felt tantamount to that of a rock star. The stresses of his life in Russia and the conflict gave the impression to be behind him.  

But if he had moved to the Spanish Riviera anticipating security, he didn’t discover it. Many of the main points of Kuzminov’s assassination stay murky. But in line with media experiences and interviews carried out by POLITICO, he was gunned down by two attackers within the parking storage of his house constructing.

Kuzminov apparently tried to run and made it to the ramp earlier than he collapsed. In escaping, his killers ran over him with a automotive, presumably Kuzminov’s. The Spanish Civil Guard mentioned they discovered the burned out car days later, about 20 kilometers from city.

The homicide despatched a shock wave via the area, which markets itself as a fairyland of relaxation and amusement for foreigners. 

Spain was fast to level the finger eastwards, with Spanish intelligence companies telling the newspaper El País that Moscow possible tasked its hit males to hold out the assassination. But Spanish authorities confirmed little enthusiasm in digging additional.

Mark Galeotti, head of the London-based Mayak Intelligence consultancy agency and a number one Russia skilled, mentioned Kuzminov’s demise appears way more like “an organized crime killing.” But, he added, “It appears fully believable that then the Russian state would have reached out to the gangsters and kind of mentioned, ‘We want you to do one thing for us.’”

Villajoyosa has a large group of Russians and Ukrainians. The city has a Russian Orthodox church and, within the very middle, a big Russian grocery store. 

The Cala Alta residential advanced the place Kuzminov lived within the weeks earlier than his demise and the place he was killed sits about 10 minutes from the seaside. It’s a gated group made up of tall, white, balconied house buildings, a pool and clay-colored paths the place residents and their pets mingle among the many palm timber and patches of grass.

When POLITICO visited the advanced earlier this yr, half of the flats gave the impression to be empty. Most doorbells rung unanswered. The models that have been occupied largely hosted vacationers on the lookout for a number of weeks of escape.

It shortly turned clear nobody wished to be reminded of the crime. “Nothing ever occurs right here,” went one typical remark. 

A caretaker at Cala Alta, who was the second individual to reach on the crime scene, mentioned he solely spoke to Kuzminov as soon as: when the previous pilot requested him the place he might eliminate the particles from renovating his house. After that, he noticed him often across the advanced. Kuzminov was at all times carrying darkish garments, hoodies and hats, as if he was attempting to go unnoticed, the caretaker mentioned.

Several folks mentioned that the previous pilot was a daily at a sports activities bar throughout the road from Cala Alta. But contained in the institution, no person appeared to recollect him. Around city, when folks have been requested whether or not they had seen Kuzminov, they shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders. 

There have been a number of exceptions. Workers at a neighborhood grocery retailer recalled him coming in once in a while. A waiter at a close-by restaurant mentioned he would typically see him round city.

“I noticed him many occasions, he wasn’t very talkative,” a chef in a restaurant near Kuzminov’s house mentioned. “He made an enormous mistake coming right here to dwell.” 

Across the road from the storage the place Kuzminov was shot, a Russian man was having drinks in a café with a buddy. “I feel he deserved it,” he mentioned, taking a slug of his beer.

The finish of Maxim Kuzminov

Outside Villajoyosa, the information of Kuzminov’s demise has been met with reactions starting from gleeful celebrations to dismissive shrugs.

Contrary to the aim of Ukraine’s defection program, onlookers are drawing numerous classes from his assassination — and never those that Kyiv had hoped for.

One of Kuzminov’s childhood pals in Russia, who requested to stay nameless for security causes, described Kuzminov as “humble, good-hearted and really naive.” He mentioned the previous pilot had a “pliable temperament,” and that he possible abandoned as a result of “somebody exerted strain on him and he was afraid.” The promise of an enormous reward was possible additionally an enormous issue, he mentioned. 

After the defection, Kuzminov’s pals and kinfolk had been interrogated by the Russian safety companies and made to take lie detector exams, the buddy added. 

He added that, so far as he knew, Kuzminov’s total group of pals from Russia had lower him off. “In our circle, all of us have a really unfavourable response to what he did,” he mentioned. “Of course, there’s our childhood bond, however what he did overshadows that. No one actually mourned his demise.”

Outside the nation, Russians — particularly these vital of the federal government — have famous with alarm the convenience with which two killers slipped out and in of Villajoyosa and obtained away with homicide.

Spanish authorities have washed their arms of any accountability. Intelligence sources advised El País they didn’t even know that Kuzminov was within the nation and that that they had not been knowledgeable of his arrival. 

To at the present time, Spain’s Civil Guard received’t formally affirm that the physique that was discovered was Kuzminov’s. Requests for interviews with the Villajoyosa police went unanswered. Half a yr after the killing, there aren’t any stable leads, or no less than none which have been made public. Like the residents of Villajoyosa, authorities within the nation appear to be treating the case as one thing finest forgotten shortly.

That has strengthened the notion, fed by a collection of incidents on British and continental soil, that the Kremlin can attain into Europe and goal its enemies with impunity. 

Alexei, a 49-year-old Russian businessman who emigrated to Spain after dealing with strain for his political opinions, mentioned he feels “at risk, and I feel many do.”

For Ukraine, Kuzminov’s homicide turned what ought to have been a serious propaganda victory right into a defeat. If Kyiv’s most extremely touted defector didn’t dwell to see the anniversary of his desertion, how keen will different Russians be to cross over. Rather than showcase the advantages of switching sides, Kuzminov’s story ended up taking part in into the Kremlin’s arms by illustrating the mortal hazard it entails.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the story seems to be one which Kyiv would moderately neglect.

A Ukrainian intelligence official steered that Kuzminov himself was largely responsible for his demise: The program beneath which he defected supplied the precise to maintain his id a secret.  

“Kuzminov wished cash, so he obtained the cash,” the official advised POLITICO in March. “We gave him half 1,000,000 {dollars}. He would have been beneath safety in Ukraine, however he got here someday and advised [us] he wished to go overseas.”

“We warned him that it was harmful,” the official mentioned. “But he mentioned he wished to go [to Spain] anyway. How would you think about we might defend him? Kuzminov goes via a seashore in Spain in flip-flops and with $500k beneath his armpit and our two-armed fighters accompany him? That is unimaginable outdoors our jurisdiction.”

For a quick second, Kuzminov’s defection thrust him into the worldwide highlight. A younger man from Russia’s impoverished periphery, he spent the final months of his life in consolation he might have solely dreamed of as a toddler. 

In his demise, he appears fated to sink again into obscurity.