How Russia demanded the release of a cold-blooded KGB assassin for Whelan AND ... trends now
New details are emerging about the high-stakes negotiations that brought the release of basketball star Brittney Griner but left American Paul Whelan languishing in prison – including Russia's demand to liberate an assassin serving a life sentence for carrying out a daylight slaying in Berlin.
The Biden administration had been trying to negotiate for the release of both Griner and Whelan for months. But as the U.S. tried to secure their freedom and even dangled convicted 'Merchant of Death' arms trafficker Viktor Bout, Moscow added its own demand.
Russia wanted the release Vadim Krasikov, a former FSB colonel who was convicted of gunning down a Georgia-born Chechen separatist in broad daylight in a central Berlin park, as the price for freeing both Americans, the New York Times reported.
It was a bold ask due to the stark nature of the crime. Krasikov is convicted of riding up to his victim on a bicycle and executing him in Berlin's Kleine Tiergarten park. A German court called it a 'state-contracted killing.'
Russia wanted the release Vadim Krasikov, a former FSB colonel who was convicted of gunning down a Georgia-born Chechen separatist in broad daylight in a central Berlin park, as the price for freeing both Americans
Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan remains in a Russian prison. It was revealed that Moscow sought to release a convicted hit man as part of any exchange involving Whelan, who vigorously denies spying charges against him
By contrast, Griner was sentenced for possessing a small amount of cannabis oil inside vape cartridges at a Moscow airport, and the government and Whelan deny the spying charges brought against him.
U.S. negotiators didn't reject the idea outright, and tried of offer a three-way trade, according to the Times.
But authorities in Berlin weren't interested in freeing someone who had blatantly violated the law and ignored its sovereignty.
The revelation came on a day when Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed openness to further negotiations, after a deal that some Republicans have already attacked as unfavorable.
'We aren't refusing to continue this work in the future,' Putin said after Bout arrived home to a hero's welcome in Moscow and Griner touched down in San Antonio, Texas, in
