Did Russian attackers kill army deserter in Spain? Doubts about Vladimir Putin's government are growing

The Russian government allegedly sent assassins to Spain to assassinate a Russian soldier who escaped by helicopter to Ukraine last year. It seemed puzzling In the city of Alicante. This is the version published this Thursday in the Madrid newspaper CountryIt cites sources from the Spanish intelligence services.

“The Spanish intelligence services have no doubt that the long hand of the Kremlin is behind an unprecedented crime in Spain: the murder of Maxim Kuzminov in Alicante,” the newspaper wrote.

The only doubt is whether the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Security Service (FSB) or the Military Intelligence Service (GRU) was behind the operation. Country Intelligence sources said, however Obtaining incriminating evidence will be “extremely difficult”.

Country Citing “diplomatic sources”. They describe the matter as “very serious” and Spain will give a “strong response” if the involvement of Russian officials is confirmed.

Kuzmino's death, confirmed by Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) and celebrated by the Russian government, remains a mystery because Spanish authorities have yet to confirm that a bullet-riddled body found on a Spanish beach on February 13 is yours.

Several Spanish media reported on Monday that the body, carrying false identification, was that of Guzmino.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard, the armed body that conducts investigations in Spain, told AFP on Thursday that it had no new information on the case, while the Interior Ministry declined to comment.

The Ministry of Defense, to which Spanish intelligence services responded, limited itself to telling AFP that the Spanish government's official position was that “we must allow the Civil Guard to do its job and allow the investigation to progress.”

Spain's intelligence services believe the crime took place in an area with a heavy concentration of Russians, and Spanish authorities initially classified it. calculationMade by hitmen who had already left Spain.

There are many Kremlin skeptics in Spain. The killing came just days before the mysterious and surprising death in a Siberian prison of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, which has unleashed a barrage of accusations against Vladimir Putin's government.

The Kremlin has over the years been responsible for suppressing dissenting voices, for example, banning politicians who could run against Putin in March elections – where re-election for the president is expected – and cracking down on street protests.

After shooting him half a dozen times, the killers drove him away in their own car. Country.

The burnt-out vehicle was found a short time later in a neighboring town.

A critic of the war in Ukraine, Kuzminov traveled in a Russian military helicopter last August and landed in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Two accomplices with him, unaware of the plans, were killed by Ukrainian forces as they tried to flee.

“This traitor and criminal turned into a moral corpse from the moment he planned his despicable and heinous crime,” Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), was quoted as saying by the official TASS agency on Tuesday. Denies Russian involvement in death.