“In any case, I want to wait for official confirmation from the authorities about the liquidation of Kuzminov,” said Nikita Kiryanov’s father.
Spanish media circulated reports that a body was found in Alicante, presumably that of Maxim Kuzminov, who hijacked a Russian Mi-8 helicopter to Ukraine in 2023. The press does not provide any official confirmation of this information.
Journalists from the ABC portal, in particular, report on the investigation into the murder of a certain “33-year-old Ukrainian.” Kuzminov, according to available data, was only 28 years old in 2023.
In Russia, the criminal case against Kuzminov is being conducted by the FSB. Kuzminov himself gave a press conference in Ukraine, at which he said that there were two other crew members with him who did not know about the escape plan. After the helicopter landed on Ukrainian territory, they did not want to give up. Kuzminov, who sat in front of reporters wearing a T-shirt with the Ukrainian coat of arms, said they “may have been liquidated.”
The dead Russian soldiers who were in the helicopter were 28-year-old flight mechanic Nikita Kiryanov and pilot-navigator Khushbakht Tursunov.