I found a dead Russian defector in a pool of blood in an underground parking garage… he tried to flee and couldn’t call for help

A TESTIMONY has told of his horror at finding the bullet-ridden body of defected Russian helicopter pilot Maxim Kuzminov in a Spanish garage.

Ruben, a local worker, told The Sun he discovered the 28-year-old army captain in a pool of blood shortly after what is believed to have been a brutal Kremlin-ordered assassin.

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The ruthless despot’s assassins would have done that the Russian helicopter pilot tracked down and executed who fled to the Costa resort after defecting to Ukraine last August.

The Sun was given access to the grisly murder scene yesterday Kuzminov was found shot.

He was sent away in cold blood by six shots from a gun believed to have been fitted with a silencer just a 10-minute drive from Benidorm’s party strip.

We walked his last steps yesterday about 50 yards to where his body was found, near the electrically operated metal doors of the parking garage.

The caretaker at the block – who only named Ruben – said: “I found his body halfway up the car park exit – it looks like he tried to escape on foot.

“He was clearly dead, lying face up with his eyes and mouth wide open and gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen.

“I had never seen a dead body before and it was a shocking sight. Some people have been afraid to go to the parking lot since it happened.

“Nobody saw or heard anything suspicious and when we first saw him we thought he had been run over.

“But I realized what had happened when I saw the blood from his wounds on his blue sports jacket and the bag he was carrying.

“There was no phone signal there, so I had to run outside to call the police.

“Now that we know who he was, the police think Putin sent his people to do this – how could this happen in a place like this?”

The stealth of his killers was such that no one heard or witnessed the murder before they fled in a getaway car that was later set on fire nearby.

We went back Kuzminov’s last steps yesterday from the 9th-floor apartment where he lay low after fleeing to a Ukrainian airport in a stolen Mi8 helicopter last August.

He had hoped to blend into the Tower Three block on a tree-lined boulevard where 70 percent of residents came from Russia, Ukraine and other Eastern European states.

But police investigating his murder believe he made the fatal mistake of inviting an ex-girlfriend to join him – and his phone call home allowed Putin agents to track his location.

Investigators believe a team of secret servicemen from the GRU and the FSB were activated and rushed towards their target in the eerie darkness of level three of the block’s car park.

They seemed to know that Kuzminov was parked in section number 29 and lying in wait as he descended to his doom in an elevator around 5 p.m. on February 13.

Locals at the murder scene told us yesterday that the victim may have spotted the killers and died while running for his life.

The killers appear to have carefully planned their escape, taking care not to get stuck in the parking lot, which can only be exited by residents with a remote control.

It is believed they fled on foot to a stolen white Hyundai parked on the street outside before driving away – dodging CCTV from the garage entrance.

Kuzminov was on Putin’s most wanted list after he was reportedly paid £400,000 to steal his Russian military helicopter in a major propaganda coup for Ukraine.

He had been given a new identity and joined a large community of Russian speakers living in and around Benidorm using a Ukrainian passport with the name Igor Shevchenko.

The defector is said to have moved into a flat he was renovating and hoping to start a new life in the Benidorm suburb of Villajoyosa.

Despite the ongoing carnage between their countries in Eastern Europe, Russians and Ukrainians in Spain live side by side with British expats and trippers.

But Spanish police now hunting the killers believe a Kremlin death squad has infiltrated the community and is ready to liquidate more of Putin’s enemies.

And the theory was all but confirmed this week when police sources revealed that distinctive Russian bullets had been used to kill Kusminov – in a chilling “calling card” of the Kremlin.

Telegram channel Volya – an independent Ukrainian war source that – linked the murder to another feared assassination of Putin – and warned that Kremlin assassins may be stalking the Costas.

In the spring of 2022, a Russian multi-millionaire exile Sergei Protosenja55, was found hanged after allegedly killing his wife Natalia, 53, and their teenage daughter, Maria, with an axe.

Protosenya was a former vice chairman of Novotek, a company closely linked to the Kremlin and at odds with Putin’s regime.

Volya said the hit team is occurring as maritime guards hide in plain sight on the Costas.

They work under the guise of providing security for Russian cargo ships – but some openly wear shoulder straps with the insignia of Putin’s spy agencies, including the FSB and the GRU.

Others pose as ‘export-import’ specialists but are in fact officers of the GRU – whose operatives tried to kill Sergei Skripal with Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury in 2018.

Volya said: “The Russians have been living in Alicante, Altea, Benidorm and neighboring small towns for two years now.

“Among these people are professional murderers or saboteurs.

“They killed Protosenya in the spring of 2022 in Lloret de Mar because he had withdrawn money from the Russian Federation.

“They tried to cover up that death as an alleged domestic murder, but they didn’t disguise themselves with Kuzminov.

“They promised to punish him – and they punished him.”

Brits party on

Benidormthe brash Spanish hotspot where Brits gather for bawdy stag parties and pub crawls has been darkened by the sinister shadow of the murder.

But the visiting Brits remained stoic yesterday as the red menace beneath them was laid bare on the holiday playground.

Yesterday they continued undeterred as Spanish police hunted the Kremlin’s suspected killers they stalk even more Putin enemies hiding among them.

Nick Holman, a 71-year-old retired police officer from Kent who is spending a month in the block next to the murder scene, said: “I didn’t see or hear anything that day and can’t say it affected me.

“The parking lot where it happened is pretty dark, but I’m not worried about going there; I just keep going.”

Jeff Spring, a 68-year-old retired truck driver from Glasgow, said: “It will take more than Putin to stop me coming to Benidorm.

“There are a lot of Russians here and I’ve never had a problem with it – and I don’t expect that to change.”

Alan Jacobs, a 56-year-old plumber who was on holiday with his wife Jane, yesterday continued their pub crawl close to the murder scene aboard a two-seater mobility scooter.

Alan said: “I wish someone would give Putin what he deserves and not care if his assassins are here.

“I’m just here for the beer – and they’ll never catch me on my scooter!”

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