Vadim Krasikov, the hitman jailed in Germany for the assassination of a Chechen dissident CREDIT: Rex

Putin hitman wanted in prison swap for US reporter and former marine

Vadim Krasikov, a hitman jailed in Germany for assassination of Chechen dissident, has been named by Kremlin in talks with Western officials

By David Millward,

Moscow is seeking the return of Vadim Krasikov, the hitman jailed in Germany for the assassination of a Chechen dissident as part of a prisoner swap, according to reports.

Krasikov’s name has been raised by the Kremlin in negotiations with Western officials.

He is seen as vital in American efforts to secure the release of prisoners including Evan Gershkovich, a 31-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter accused of espionage and former US marine Paul Whelan who was convicted of spying charges in 2020.

Only a week ago Mr Whelan was seen in a video on a Russian news channel. He is serving a 16-year term in a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia.

The Biden administration said the detention of both men, who it described as innocent, was politically motivated.

Krasikov, 58, was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2021 for the “state-ordered killing” of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national of Chechen heritage.

Mr Khangoshvili was shot dead in a children’s playground in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten park in 2019.

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