Maxim Kuzminov

Now, of course, being a defector from Russia, that can get you a lot of very negative attention from Moscow.

We remember the case of the helicopter pilot Maxim Kuzminov.

He was the Russian Mi-8 pilot.

who defected to Ukraine in 2023.

Another defector, Russian Army pilot Maxim Kuzmenov, had flown his Mi-8 attack helicopter into Ukraine the previous year and turned it over to Kiev for a $500,000 reward.

Six months later, Kuzminov was arriving back at a rented condo by the Spanish seaside when an assassin shot him dead.

Anyone thinking of betraying Russia had gotten the message.

Stupnikov understood a central paradox of this situation.