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August 3, 2024 - 4:00pm
On 23 August 2019, in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten park, a man was executed by an assassin who rode a bicycle. The victim was Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a separatist who had battled against Russia during the Second Chechen War and reportedly spied on Russian agents for Georgian intelligence. The suspect was initially identified as “Vadim Sokolov”, a St Petersburg construction engineer who claimed he was merely a tourist.
He was, in fact, a Russian hitman from the country’s state security service, the FSB. A Berlin judge lambasted the execution as “state terrorism” and claimed the order almost certainly came from Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, the case sparking a tit-for-tat of diplomatic expulsions between Berlin and Moscow. Yet, for all the outrage in Germany over a cold-blooded assassination in broad daylight, Vadim Krasikov this week returned to Russia a free man, released as part of the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
Indeed, the deal could not have happened without him. A White House senior official said this “bad dude” was “obviously considered…a key asset by the Russian side”, while the New York Times claimed that Krasikov’s value was such that Moscow consistently rejected any trades that would exclude him.
Why is Krasikov so valuable? Bellingcat investor Christo Grozev claims Putin and Krasikov are personally close, while the Kremlin confirmed that Krasikov served in the FSB’s elite “Alpha Unit”. There were signs that Krasikov possessed confidential information the Kremlin was eager to prevent falling into the wrong ears — in December 2019, he was moved into a high-security prison wing over concerns that a Russian agent was attempting to assassinate him, lest he turn traitor.
Kremlin sources said that Putin was impressed by Krasikov’s silence — the KGB officer-turned-president was likely eager to reward such loyalty and reassure other Russian agents that the Kremlin would not leave them behind. “The Motherland never forgot about you”, Putin told returnees.
The length of Krasikov’s stretch in prison, then, was no reflection of any reticence on the part of the Russians. Rather, it was the Germans who initially proved reluctant to do a deal. In April 2023, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested a swap involving Alexei Navalny and Krasikov, only for German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to reject the idea over fears it could lead to more hostage-taking.
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SubscribeThe alternative possibility is that he did talk (or is suspected of doing so) and hence is wanted back ascertain exactly what he revealed. Having broken he’s either no longer of any value to western intelligence or use as a “canary in the mine” by causing the Russians to make detectable changes in personnel or focus and thus verify his information.
Let’s jump in a helicopter and zoom up to twenty thousand feet. From that vantage point, if the article is correct, we see Western European governments doing a rather dodgy prisoner swap mainly to boost the Democrats and help thwart Trump. In other words, the globalist establishment is once again trying to thwart the popular will.
Considering the lawfare that’s been directed at Trump, I’d say there’s now literally nothing the Dems and their supporters will not do to stop Trump and the part of the electorate he represents. I give them A+ for imagination and determination, but bye bye democracy.
So European nations shouldn’t prioritise their own interests? If the Germans believe they’d be better served by the Democrats over the Republicans and have an opportunity to give that particular party an electoral boost why shouldn’t they take it?
Trump has made a big song and dance about his America First policy, in prioritising Americas interests above that of his Allies so why shouldn’t other nations do likewise?
This is true, but every decision has a consequence. Roll the dice, status quo or on Trump’s shit list.
Not Germans, only the current government is benefited.
There’s the possibility that Krasikov will have a short life-span back in Russia.