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Manana Tsatieva, the widow of Chechen military commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who was murdered by FSB hitman Vadim Krasikov in Berlin in 2019, described how she took the news of her husband’s killer's return to Russia as part a prisoner exchange between Russia, the U.S., and Germany. Less than 24 hours after the Russians landed in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Vadim Krasikov worked for the FSB. According to Peskov, Krasikov served in the Alfa special unit, including with several members of the presidential security detail.
In an interview with The Insider’s Timur Olevskiy, Tsatieva said that she was not aware of the exchange in advance and that German authorities did not discuss the issue with her prior to approving it.
- You must have thought about this exchange. What are your feelings about it?
- I don't know how to describe to you the feelings, which are indescribable — pain, offense, and heaviness. It feels like my throat’s frozen, like it’s gone numb.
- Why the pain?
- First of all, he was met by the president with great honours, like a hero.
- Your husband's killer?
- Yes. This is despite the fact that Putin himself denied his involvement [in organizing Khangoshvili's murder], that the operation came from him. This is despite all the loud speeches where he denied and exempted himself from dirty deeds. He proved it once again yesterday — he met [Krasikov in person]. It seems they honored him, gave him the title of hero.
How can a president meet a man who acted on his own plans like that?
Germany itself [on the eve of the exchange] didn't make any hint, they didn't contact me and familiarize themselves with the family's opinion, how the family would look at it. A man was sentenced to life imprisonment and he was then released after five years [behind bars]. This is a man [Krasikov] who simply disregarded all the laws of the state and very freely, in front of all the residents, in front of witnesses, committed his atrocious acts, without a second thought. He did that in a seemingly important and great country. Despite the fact that the sovereignty of this great and important country has been trampled upon, nevertheless, the [German] state has decided to give him away. It’s very offensive and painful.
It’s a shame that they gave him away so quickly, that he went free so quickly. A man who was imprisoned for life walked free. It's unclear how much longer he'll be doing these deals and dirty deeds.
- Do I understand correctly that neither the German security services nor anyone else discussed this exchange with you during the whole time?
- No, not once.
- You must have heard discussions in the press that Krasikov could be exchanged for one of the Russian political prisoners.
- This was said right after the trial was over, that there was some talk of the state. All the communications we had were only with journalists who were interested in how we would feel if this exchange happened. At the time, I couldn't even speculate on that. When I posed this question to our lawyers, they said that it was impossible, because a person already sentenced to life imprisonment should at least serve more than half of his sentence [before even] thinking about being exchanged for someone.
- Did you immediately express a negative attitude towards this?
- Of course I did. I just couldn't imagine the possibility of him being exchanged for anything. In fact, it was the only high-profile case in [Germany] where a political refugee who had asked them for protection and whom they wouldn't accept [as a refugee] was killed.
He was denied [protection] — and finally he was killed. And in my mind it was a very high-profile case. I just couldn't even imagine that they would make that deal. I just couldn't think and assume [it], I ruled out the issue. When journalists approached me, I thought they were being silly. It may be surprising, but that was the case.
- What if someone had come to you and asked about the possibility of swapping Krasikov for the then-still-alive Navalny?
- I had a lot of respect for Navalny. And the people for whom [Krasikov] was eventually exchanged, I honestly don't know…. But one thing I do know is that Russia always plays very dirty. They always pursue the victim, even if they stage some sort of game in between. They still end up taking that person out sooner or later.
This can be traced back to all the people they have killed in foreign countries and in foreign lands, regardless of any rights, any laws, any sovereignty. Whoever is released now, I know for a fact that none of them can sit there and think they are now free.
- Would it make you feel better if someone who is released wanted to meet with you and discuss what happened?
- That would be nice.
Vadim Krasikov is an assassin who served in Vympel, a unit of the FSB Spetsnaz Center, and was later identified as the perpetrator of several contract killings, including that of businessman Alexander Kozlov in Karelia in 2007, businessman Albert Nazranov in Moscow 2015, and Chechen refugee Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019.
Krasikov was wanted in Russia, but he managed to avoid a life in jail and ended up at an FSB Spetsnaz training base near Moscow instead. After a few months of training, he was given a fake passport bearing the surname “Sokolov” and a modernized Glock pistol and was sent to Berlin to eliminate Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. Putin had publicly called Khangoshvili a terrorist but never presented any evidence of his involvement in any terrorist attack — and never made any official requests to Germany to extradite him as a terrorist.
After the assassination, Russia denied any involvement, but The Insider discovered Sokolov's real name and obtained documents proving he was a member of the Russian intelligence services, after which he was handed a life sentence in Germany. Subsequently, Putin stopped denying his connection to Krasikov, calling the assassin a “patriot” and announcing that he was open to trading him for Evan Gershkovich.
The largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War concluded yesterday, seeing the release of 24 people from prisons in six countries — Russia, the United States, Germany, Norway, Slovenia, and Belarus.
The exchange resulted in the release of U.S. citizens Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as Russian political prisoners Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Andrey Pivovarov, human rights activist Oleg Orlov, artist Alexandra Skochilenko, and Navalny aides Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, and Vadim Ostanin. The swap also included 5 German nationals: Rico Krieger, Herman Moyzhes, Kevin Lik, Demuri Voronin, and Patrick Schobel.
Gershkovich, Whelan, and Kurmasheva returned to the U.S., where they were greeted by members of their families, as well as by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. The remaining 13 prisoners made their way to Germany.
In exchange, Russia received the aforementioned FSB hitman Krasikov, along with seven other convicted spies and fraudsters.
Negotiations on the exchange of prisoners between Russia and the West have been ongoing for several years, through different channels and in a variety of formats. Read more about the exchange in The Insider’s piece from August 1.