Challenging Decision to Release Kremlin Hitman Safeguards Citizens

Chancellor Olaf Scholz justified the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Kremlin hitman convicted of murdering a Georgian citizen, as a necessary move to protect German and U.S. citizens. The swap, which took place in Ankara, was facilitated with gratitude from U.S. President Joe Biden.

The decision to release Vadim Krasikov, the Kremlin hitman serving a life sentence for murdering a Georgian citizen in a Berlin park, was a difficult but necessary one to protect German and U.S. citizens, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

Speaking at Cologne airport, where he was waiting to welcome the freed prisoners who were on their way from Ankara where the swap took place, Scholz mentioned that U.S. President Joe Biden had thanked Germany for its assistance in the prisoner transfer.

"The state's interest in seeing him punished had to be weighed against the danger to the bodies and, in some cases, the lives of innocent people in prison in Russia and political prisoners," Scholz told reporters.

(With inputs from agencies.)