On Thursday, Krasikov was freed as a part of a wide-ranging prisoner swap between Russia and the US and its allies. The deal additionally noticed a number of People held by Russia freed, together with Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Avenue Journal reporter who had been held in Russia since March 2023.
Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program on the Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, a Washington-based suppose tank, mentioned Moscow has been so intent on securing Krasikov’s launch as a result of it will ship a agency message that the Kremlin will go far to guard its loyal footmen.
“It’s a really high-profile case,” Bergmann mentioned in an interview performed earlier than the information of the prisoner swap, including that the case displayed Russia’s world attain in its pursuit of dissidents. “What it alerts is for those who’re a dissident of Russia and dwelling within the West, that Russia can get to you.”
He was convicted of ‘state-sponsored homicide’
Krasikov, German authorities have alleged, is a former colonel within the FSB.
The 58-year-old was born in Kazakhstan earlier than transferring to Siberia together with his household within the Nineteen Eighties, in response to an investigation by Bellingcat, the Insider and Der Spiegel.
Russian authorities beforehand related him to a 2013 homicide, in response to Bellingcat, an internet investigative website. However an Interpol search warrant was dropped in 2015. He moved to Moscow in 2019, in response to Bellingcat, whose investigations fueled the prosecution of the Berlin homicide.
On Aug. 23, 2019, in Kleiner Tiergarten, a small park in central Berlin, Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen and ethnic Chechen, was shot thrice in broad daylight by somebody who had tailed him on a bicycle.
A German court docket later concluded the murderer was Krasikov. Witnesses mentioned Krasikov approached Khangoshvili from behind, capturing him twice within the physique and firing one other shot to Khangoshvili’s head as soon as he had fallen to the bottom.
Krasikov was convicted of homicide and sentenced to life in jail in a Berlin court docket in 2021; the severity of the crime was, below German regulation, more likely to disqualify him from an early launch.
The killing, German prosecutors mentioned, was a political homicide ordered by the Kremlin. The “state-sponsored homicide,” Germany mentioned, was a “severe violation of German regulation and Germany’s sovereignty.”
Krasikov’s legal professionals argued that their shopper was not Krasikov nor successful man however fairly an engineer named Vadim Sokolov with no ties to the Russian authorities.
Bellingcat, the investigative website, matched “Sokolov” to Krasikov’s identification by distinctive tattoos on his arms.
Putin appeared to reference him as a ‘patriot’
Many convicted Russian brokers are held globally, however Moscow seems to have a particular curiosity in sending a message with Krasikov’s launch.
“There may be this instance that’s set that for those who’re a Russian murderer and also you homicide somebody in broad daylight in a significant European metropolis, Russia will try to be sure to get residence and can do no matter it takes to free you, together with taking harmless individuals hostage,” Bergmann mentioned.
In public, Russian authorities hinted that they needed to recuperate Krasikov. In non-public, Moscow officers had expressed in direct phrases a want to repatriate him as a part of a prisoner swap, these concerned in negotiations beforehand advised The Washington Put up.
In an obvious reference to Krasikov in February, Putin highlighted the case of an unnamed “patriot” who was “serving a sentence in an allied nation of the U.S.,” in response to a query from Tucker Carlson about Gershkovich. “That individual, attributable to patriotic sentiments, eradicated a bandit in one of many European capitals,” Putin mentioned, showing to tie Krasikov’s case to that of Gershkovich.
It follows the Kremlin expressing a transparent curiosity in recovering Krasikov in earlier negotiations, two senior European safety officers advised The Put up this 12 months.
An aide to the late Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny additionally mentioned negotiators had named Krasikov in talks this 12 months geared toward securing the discharge of Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Navalny. These negotiations have been of their ultimate levels when Navalny died in a Russian jail colony in February, mentioned the aide, Maria Pevchikh.
There was opposition to his launch in Germany
Earlier than the discharge, German authorities had not commented publicly on whether or not they have been contemplating releasing Krasikov as a part of an trade, and so they declined to answer a request for remark from The Put up earlier than the trade.
When requested at a information convention in June, International Workplace spokesman Sebastian Fischer refused to say whether or not Germany was engaged in prisoner swap negotiations, repeating Berlin’s name for Russia to launch Gershkovich instantly and unconditionally.
When Krasikov’s identify was initially floated in 2022 as a part of a possible trade, German lawmakers from throughout the political spectrum bristled. Many pointed to the truth that Krasikov, having served a fraction of his lifetime sentence, was convicted of a brazen assassination executed within the coronary heart of the German capital on the behest of a hostile state.
In non-public, nonetheless, Germany’s place on the prospect of releasing Krasikov seems to have shifted over time — no less than insofar as a way of securing Navalny’s launch. The European safety officers mentioned that as Navalny’s well being deteriorated, Berlin dropped a few of its earlier reluctance on the prospect of releasing Krasikov. It’s unclear whether or not Navalny’s subsequent demise has since shifted Berlin’s calculus.
In a February press briefing, State Division spokesman Matthew Miller refused to remark when requested whether or not Krasikov had been named as a part of any U.S.-backed proposal to safe the discharge of Gershkovich.
Bergmann, who beforehand labored within the State Division below President Barack Obama, mentioned such a swap was most likely essential to free Gershkovich. “There’s a deep want to see Gershkovich free, and it’s clear he’s being held hostage.” he mentioned. “The problem is the way you weigh that deep sense of eager to free a person that’s being wrongly held versus releasing somebody who’s justly held.”
Robyn Dixon and Souad Mekhennet contributed reporting.
