Translated material
Russia announced the expulsion of two German diplomats as a retaliatory measure
Russia has declared two German diplomats persona non grata in response to the expulsion from Germany of two employees of the Russian embassy in Berlin. This is stated on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
German Ambassador Geza Andreas von Geyr was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was informed that two German diplomats had been declared persona non grata. During what time they should leave Russia, the Foreign Ministry did not specify.
Germany announced the expulsion of two Russian diplomats last week following the sentencing of alleged FSB officer Vadim Krasikov (Sokolov) accused of killing former Chechen warlord Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in the summer of 2019. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
40-year-old Khangoshvili, a participant in the second Chechen war and one of the field commanders in 2001-2005, was shot dead in the Berlin district of Moabit on August 23, 2019. According to investigators, 56-year-old Krasikov arrived in Germany from Poland. On the day of the murder, Krasikov fired three shots on a bicycle, two of them in the back of the head in Khangoshvili, then he threw a Glock pistol and a bicycle into the river, got on a moped and tried to escape, but he was captured by the police. The detainee was found to have a Russian passport in the name of Vadim Sokolov.
According to T-online, the prosecutor's office considers Krasikov a colonel of the Vympel special forces of the FSB. Spiegel, Insider* and Bellingcat* investigators found out that Krasikov may have been trained at the FSB Special Purpose Center in Balashikha. Russia denies the involvement of its special services in the murder.
Khangoshvili has been living in Germany since 2016 as a refugee under the name of Tornike Khavtarashvili - in Russia he was recognized as a terrorist. He, an ethnic Kist, in particular, in 2008 took part in the conflict in South Ossetia on the side of the Georgian forces.