Defector murdered in Spain was ‘moral corpse’, says Russian spy chief

‘This traitor and criminal became a moral corpse at the very moment when he planned his dirty and terrible crime,’ he said.

Kuzminov served in the ‘319th separate helicopter regiment’ based in Russia’s Far Eastern Primorye region.

Two fellow servicemen on the helicopter were not aware of his plans and were killed when they tried to flee after it landed in Ukraine.

Kyiv’s intelligence agency said it had been planning the mission for more than six months.

Authorities in Spain said they are investigating the death of a person found with multiple gunshot wounds in an underground parking lot on 13 February, but could not confirm their identity.

The Guardia Civil said they found false documents on the body, which identified the man as a 33-year-old Ukrainian under a different name.

Spain’s state news agency, EFE, said the body had been hit by half a dozen bullets and was run over by the car used by the attackers.