The West's prisoner exchange with Russia: Scholz played a crucial role
During the negotiations, we concluded that Krasikov was a key figure," Sullivan said. The prisoner exchange had been negotiated for months, originally the then Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in Russian custody in February, was also supposed to be included in the agreement according to the plans of the US government.
Scholz gave his consent to the release of Krasikov at the beginning of the year, according to information from US government circles, to enable the deal with Moscow. "I'll do it for you," the Chancellor reportedly told Biden, according to a high-ranking US government official.
According to Sullivan, US Vice President Kamala Harris also discussed the prisoner exchange with Scholz on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February.
Biden praised on Thursday the "courageous and brave decisions" of Germany and other allies who had released wrongfully detained individuals. "I owe a great sense of gratitude, especially to the Chancellor," the US President explained.
"Significant concessions from Germany" were necessary to meet the Russian conditions for a prisoner exchange, which the federal government initially did not want to make, Biden emphasized. The basis for the talks with the Chancellor was the "sincere friendship" between Scholz and Biden, said the security advisor Sullivan.
Russia and Belarus, on the one hand, and the USA, Germany, and three other NATO states, on the other hand, carried out the prisoner exchange on Thursday afternoon. Russia released 15 prisoners, including the US reporter Evan Gershkovich and four prisoners with German passports. The release of a German who was initially sentenced to death and later pardoned in Belarus was also achieved.
The released "Tiergarten murderer" Krasikov was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany at the end of 2021 because, in the opinion of the Berlin Higher Regional Court, he shot a Georgian of Chechen origin in the Tiergarten in the capital in August 2019 on behalf of state Russian authorities.
"No one made the decision lightly to deport a murderer sentenced to life imprisonment after just a few years in prison," Scholz said on Friday night. For the federal government, it was crucial "that we have a duty of care towards German citizens, as well as solidarity with the USA".
The prisoner exchange involving Krasikov was facilitated with the approval of German Chancellor Scholz at the beginning of the year. Germany made significant concessions to meet the Russian conditions for the exchange, a fact emphasized by President Biden.
