On Wednesday (15), a German court sentenced Russian Vadim Krasikov to life imprisonment for the murder of a Chechen in Berlin on the orders of the government of Vladimir Putin. Moscow accuses the verdict of a political one. Two Russian diplomats were expelled from a European country. The incident shook the already complicated diplomatic relations between Russia and Germany.

On Wednesday (15), a German court sentenced Russian Vadim Krasikov to life imprisonment for the murder of a Chechen in Berlin on the orders of the government of Vladimir Putin. Moscow accuses the verdict of a political one. Two Russian diplomats were expelled from a European country. The incident shook the already complicated diplomatic relations between Russia and Germany.

In 2019, Tornike Kavtarachvili was in a Berlin park when he was shot three times. The Chechen minority of Georgians was 40 years old and opposed to the Russian government.

According to the Berlin court, the order of the Russian authorities to “liquidate the victim” was given about a month before the murder. According to Judge Olaf Arnoldi, death would be revenge on the enemy.

Moscow, which has always denied its involvement in the case, accused the verdict of being political.

“We believe that this is a political decision that will seriously damage German-Russian relations, which were already difficult,” said Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechaev.

A few hours after the verdict, the German government decided to expel two members of the Russian diplomatic team. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced that two Russian embassy officials had been declared “persona non grata” in Germany as a result of Wednesday’s decision.

The murder in the center of Berlin was considered by the government “a serious encroachment on the sovereignty of the German state.”

cold-blooded execution

The deceased Chechen was a separatist leader who fought Russian forces between 2000 and 2004. The Georgian has been living with his family in Germany since 2016 under political asylum.

According to the prosecutor, the killer was the commander of a special unit in the Russian secret service, the FSB. To cancel entry into the country, a Russian would travel from Moscow to Paris, then to Warsaw, and then to Berlin.

According to the verdict, the Russian received “active” assistance from the authorities to ensure his penetration “completely unnoticed” by the German security forces.

The crime took place at lunchtime in the large Tiergarten park in the center of the German capital. On a bicycle, the killer approached the victim from behind and shot the Chechen three times in the head.

Subsequently, the Russian was detained in a nearby park. Throughout the entire trial, the convict denied the persons attributed to him. He claimed that his name was Vadim Sokolov, he was 50 years old and that he was a “civil engineer”.

hated adversary

Since the first suspicions arose back in 2019, the Kremlin has always denied involvement in the assassination. Although President Vladimir Putin showed considerable contempt for his opponent, whom he called “a cruel and bloodthirsty fighter.”

The Putin government demanded the extradition of the Chechen opponent, but Germany refused.

The case heightens other suspicions about Russian attacks on opponents, such as the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK.

(According to AFP)