In the high-stakes world of international politics, Russia’s brazen assassination of a former Chechen leader in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019 sent shockwaves across the West. Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the convicted assassin, Vadim Krasikov, back.
Amidst whispers of backdoor negotiations and prisoner swaps, speculation rises: Could there be a potential trade involving Krasikov for a detained Wall Street Journal reporter?
WSJ reported:
Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov, riding a bicycle, followed his target to a crowded children’s playground at lunchtime, a popular summer spot in a central-city park filled with families and workers.
As the man entered Tiergarten park, Krasikov pedaled close behind. Not far from the swings, he pulled a pistol from a rucksack and shot him in the back, leaving his victim, a former Chechen insurgent leader, slumped on the ground. Krasikov got off his bike and calmly fired twice into the man’s head, watched by children and parents, witnesses said during a court trial that ended in his conviction.
The 2019 murder of Zemlikhan Khangoshvili, a man who Moscow alleged led a 2004 attack in Russia, was determined by a German court to be an intentionally brutal message by Russia to its enemies abroad: Even if you seek refuge in the West, we will hunt you down.
Shortly before the 2021 verdict, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his top security adviser, Nikolai Patrushev, to explore a prisoner swap to free Krasikov, said a former European official with connections to senior Russian government figures. That underscored the high value placed on Krasikov by Putin, a former KGB officer who later headed its successor agency, the Federal Security Service, or FSB.
Moscow has since brought up Krasikov’s case in prisoner-swap negotiations, according to Western officials. The officials said Krasikov is central to U.S. efforts to win the release of people held by Russia, possibly including U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Gershkovich, a 31-year-old U.S. citizen, was detained on March 29 by the FSB while he was on a reporting assignment. He is being held on a charge of espionage, which Gershkovich, the Journal and U.S. officials deny.
A top Western official involved in hostage diplomacy with Russia said Putin was interested in trading only for Krasikov. Putin has sought the return of agents arrested during other clandestine operations abroad. In 2004, he thanked the Emir of Qatar for returning two men convicted there of planting a car bomb that killed a fugitive Chechen rebel leader. Russia denied responsibility for the killing.
Officials in several countries said a multilateral deal to swap Russian detainees in Western countries for Western citizens held in Russia, as well as imprisoned dissidents such as Alexei Navalny, was possible.
President Biden said in July that he was serious about pursuing a prisoner exchange for Gershkovich with the Kremlin but gave no details. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in April that Russia would contemplate a swap only after a verdict in the Gershkovich case. Berlin hasn’t said whether it would consider exchanging Krasikov. Such a swap could face obstacles in Germany, where government lawyers issued a legal opinion last year that said a convicted murderer can’t be traded.
