German authorities’ decision to hand over Krasikov to Russia ‘not made lightly’

Russian citizen Vadim Krasikov, an ex-FSB officer who was serving prison time in Germany for the assassination of the former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was handed over to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange on August 1, confirmed German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

“The German federal government did not make this decision lightly,” Hebestreit said. “The state’s interest in enforcing the prison sentence of a convicted criminal was weighed against the freedom, physical well-being, and — in some cases — ultimately the lives of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and those unjustly detained for political reasons.”

According to Hebestreit, Germany worked together with the United States and European partners to secure the release of 15 people unlawfully detained in Russia, as well as a German citizen sentenced to death in Belarus. In exchange, the West handed over several Russians held in European prisons, including Krasikov.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung previously reported that the German prosecutor’s office is “disappointed” with the authorities’ decision to transfer Krasikov to Russia.