CNN: Russia asks USA to include convict for Khangoshvili's killing into exchange

Russian officials have offered to include Vadim Krasikov, convicted in Germany for assassinating Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen field commander, in negotiations with Americans on prisoners' exchange.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 15, 2021, in Berlin, the Russian, whom a witness had identified as Vadim Krasikov, an agent of Russian special services, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Russian officials have demanded to add Krasikov to the US-offered exchange of the arms dealer Victor Boot for Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, US citizens, the CNN has reported. The demand was treated as problematic, also due to the fact that Krasikov remains in German custody.

"An offer to exchange two Americans illegally detained for the Russian killer who is kept in custody in a third country is a poor offer," Adrienne Watson, the spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, said in her statement.

Brittney Griner faced trial on charges of having hemp oil in her luggage, when she entered Russia in February this year, which, as she said, she used for pain relief. In 2020, Paul Whelan was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The US State Department declared both of them to be unlawfully detained.