The swap of Navalny for the Georgian citizen's killer: what do we know about the scheme?

On February 26, the chair of Alexey Navalny‘s organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Maria Pevchikh, stated that there had been plans to exchange Navalny for Vadim Krasikov—a suspected employee of Russia‘s FSB, sentenced to life in prison in Germany for the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.

This statement by Pevchikh is also confirmed by international media—Reuters, Financial Times, and other influential media. They note that negotiations for the exchange of Navalny for Vadim Krasikov were underway shortly before Navalny’s death.

According to Pevchikh, on February 15, 2024, she received information that “the negotiations were in their final stages.” And on February 16, it became known about Navalny’s death in prison. Pevchikh asserts that Putin decided to kill Navalny because he did not want to see him free:

“I’m telling you this so you understand why they decided to kill Navalny now. They let Putin know: the only way to get Krasikov was to exchange him for Navalny. ‘Ah, so,’ Putin thought, ‘I will not tolerate Navalny being free, and since they were actually willing to trade Krasikov, then we just need to ditch the bargaining chip. Replace him with someone else when the opportunity arises.'”

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Who are Vasily Krasikov and Zelimkhan Khangoshvili?

Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent, participated in the Second chechen war of 1999-2000, was a field commander, and fought alongside Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov. He later lived in Georgia. Since 2002, he was wanted by Russia on suspicion of terrorism.

During the August war of 2008, Khangoshvili assembled a volunteer unit of 200 people who fought for Georgia. He himself did not participate in combat. German media also reported that Khangoshvili worked in the anti-terrorism department of Georgia’s interior ministry.

Khangoshvili was killed on August 23 in a park in central Berlin. The assassin approached by bicycle and shot him. The police arrested the suspect at the scene. He was found carrying documents issued in the name of Vadim Sokolov. Later, a joint investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider, and Der Spiegel revealed that the real name of the assassin was Vadim Krasikov.

In December 2021, a Berlin court found Krasikov guilty of murdering Khangoshvili and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court also established that Russian state organs ordered Krasikov to kill Khangoshvili.

The German investigation referred to Krasikov as an officer of the FSB’s special unit “Vympel.”

Khangoshvili was not Krasikov’s first victim. According to various sources, Krasikov was previously linked to the murders of two other Russian businessmen.

The exchange

The murder of Khangoshvili and the subsequent arrest of Krasikov caused significant uproar in Russia’s highest official circles. Vladimir Putin claimed that Khangoshvili was one of the organizers of the explosions in the Moscow metro in 2010.

The Kremlin also stated that the Russian side sent several requests to Germany regarding the extradition of Khangoshvili, as “his involvement in extremely bloody terrorist acts was established.”

The Russian Foreign ministry denies any connection between Krasikov and the Russian special services.

In February 2024, American journalist Tucker Carlson asked Putin during an interview whether the Russian president was ready to release Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, accused by Russia of espionage. In response, Putin began to speak about a person imprisoned in the US, who “eliminated a bandit out of patriotic motives.”

“The other question is whether he did it on his own initiative or not,” Putin added, without going into details.

In July 2022, the American TV channel CNN reported that Russian authorities offered Washington to exchange Americans imprisoned in Russia for Krasikov. According to The Wall Street Journal, Moscow proposed to the US to exchange Krasikov for Gershkovich.