The German government has said it did not take the decision to release a jailed FSB hitman lightly, as it confirmed its involvement in a historic prisoner exchange between Russia and the west.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, said the deal – involving the release of Vadim Krasikov, convicted in Germany for murder – had been arranged “in close and trusting cooperation with the United States and European partners”, making it possible “to secure the release of 15 people who were unlawfully detained in Russia and a German national [Rico Krieger] who had been sentenced to death in Belarus.”
