Pro-Kremlin politician Ilya Kiva has been found dead outside Moscow, Russian state media reported, citing local emergency services.
The former Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada lawmaker was expelled from parliament and defected to Russia weeks after Moscow launched its military offensive last year.
A source in Ukraine's defense sector told AFP that the country's security services had organized Kiva's murder.
Kiva's body was found in the suburbs of Moscow.
Ukraine's military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov said: “We can confirm that Kiva is done. Such a fate will befall other traitors to Ukraine, as well as supporters of the Putin regime."
Yusov called Kiva "one of the biggest scumbags, traitors and collaborators" and said his death was "justice".
Kiev has rarely commented on whether it is behind a spate of killings of pro-Russian figures, both in Russia and in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.
However, Ukraine has recently begun to claim responsibility for a number of attacks and has openly threatened to prosecute other "collaborators" and "traitors". /BGNES
