Russia on Pilot Killed in Spain: He Was "Morally Dead"

Russian media reported today, Tuesday, that Russian intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin stated that the Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine and was found shot dead in an underground garage in Spain last week was "morally dead" since he planned his crimes. The official Spanish news agency (EFE) reported that the body was discovered on February 13 in the town of Villajoyosa near the city of Alicante in southern Spain. The body belongs to pilot Maxim Kuzminov, who landed in Ukraine with his Mi-8 helicopter last August. Media quoted Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Naryshkin as saying, "In Russia, it is our custom to either speak well of the deceased or remain silent." The TASS news agency quoted Naryshkin saying, "This traitor and criminal became morally dead at the moment he planned his vile and heinous crime."