Police in Spain say a recently discovered body is believed to be a Russian soldier who previously defected to Ukraine.
Spanish authorities are identifying the victim, who was found on Feb. 15 with multiple gunshot wounds in the town of La Cala, as Russian defector Maksim Kuzminov.
Last year, Kuzminov abandoned his post and flew an army helicopter over the front lines into Ukrainian territory. The Mi-8 AMTSh helicopter had been loaded with parts for Sukhoi fighter jets.
Ukrainian military spokesperson Andrii Yusov confirmed Kuzminov’s death to local news outlets.
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin also confirmed the reports, calling Kuzminov as a ‘traitor and criminal.’
Naryshkin told state news agency Tass that Kuzminov became a ‘moral corpse’ after planning his ‘dirty and terrible crime.’
Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexei Danilov reportedly told Kuzminov to stay in Ukraine following his defection, citing the risk of attack by Russian agencies if he left the country.
Spanish Civil Guard officers found the corpse with six gunshots and run over by a vehicle.
Kuzminov’s body was also planted with documents that identified him as an unrelated 33-year-old Ukrainian citizen, authorities say.
After the investigation commenced, police became confident that the documents were false and began suspecting the victim was actually Kuzminov.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said he had no details on the incident and had not received information from diplomatic channels.