The German government confirmed on Thursday (1st) the release from prison of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of the murder of a former Chechen militant in Berlin in 2019, noting that “it was not an easy decision”.
“Our obligation to protect German citizens and our solidarity with the US were important motivations,” the government said in a statement.
The release is the result of a prisoner exchange between Moscow and the West, following an agreement reached between the US and Russia.
US journalists and former Marines among those released
American Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan were among 24 detainees who were released as part of a complex prisoner swap between Russia, the US and other Western nations.
Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage in July, becoming the first American journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
The US government, Gershkovich’s newspaper and his supporters denounced the trial as a sham.
Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison after being found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian military.
Kurmasheva was sentenced on the same day that a court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg sentenced Gershkovich.
Former US Marine Paul Whelan spent six years in Russian prisons after his arrest in Moscow in December 2018.
He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison on espionage charges that the U.S. government vehemently denies. He said he was in the country for a friend’s wedding.
Like Gershkovich, Whelan has been deemed unjustly detained by the U.S. State Department. He is also an Irish, British and Canadian citizen.
Russian prisoners received by Putin in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Russians involved in a historic prisoner swap with the United States back to Moscow early Thursday, the Kremlin said.
Putin said the returnees would receive state awards and thanked them for their loyalty to their home country.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone on their return to their homeland. I would like to address those who are directly related to military service. I would like to thank you for your loyalty to your oath, devotion to your duty and to your homeland, which has not forgotten you for a single minute and now you are home,” Putin said.
Putin promised to meet again with the eight returnees and talk about their future.
Source: CNN Brasil
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