Zwischen Russland und sechs weiteren Staaten findet ein großer Gefangenenaustausch statt. Nach Angaben des türkischen Präsidialamts vom Donnerstag werden 26 Personen ausgetauscht, unter anderen der sogenannte Tiergartenmörder – der russische Staatsbürger Wadim Nikolajewitsch Krassikow – sowie der in Belarus inhaftierte Deutsche Rico Krieger, der amerikanische Reporter Evan Gershkovich, der frühere US-Marinekorporal Paul Whelan und der russische Oppositionelle Ilja Jaschin.
Die Bundesregierung teilte am Donnerstagabend mit, dass es „in enger und vertrauensvoller Zusammenarbeit mit den Vereinigten Staaten und europäischen Partnern“ gelungen sei, die Freilassung von 15 Personen zu erreichen, „die unrechtmäßig in Russland in Haft saßen sowie eines deutschen Staatsangehörigen, der in Belarus zum Tode verurteilt worden war“. Im Juni war Rico Krieger in Minsk von einem Gericht wegen „Söldnertums“ und „Agententätigkeit“ zum Tode verurteilt worden. Am Dienstag wurde er vom belarussischen Machthaber Alexandr Lukaschenko begnadigt.
Biden: Meisterleistung der Diplomatie
Aus Berlin hieß es weiter, die Aktion sei nur möglich gewesen, indem russische Staatsangehörige mit geheimdienstlichem Hintergrund, die in Europa in Haft saßen, abgeschoben und nach Russland überstellt worden seien. Unter ihnen sei auch Krassikow gewesen, „der in Deutschland zu einer lebenslangen Freiheitsstrafe verurteilt worden ist, nachdem er in Berlin einen georgischen Staatsbürger ermordet hatte“.
Der amerikanische Präsident Joe Biden bestätigte, dass Gershkovich und Whelan frei seien. Er sprach von einer „Meisterleistung der Diplomatie“ und fügte hinzu: „Wir haben die Freilassung von 16 Personen aus Russland ausgehandelt, darunter fünf Deutsche und sieben russische Staatsbürger, die in ihrem eigenen Land politische Gefangene waren.“
Insgesamt vier Personen kämen zurück in die USA, teilte der US-Präsident mit: drei amerikanische Staatsbürger und eine Person mit einer amerikanischen Green Card. Neben Gershkovich und Whelan handelt es sich laut Biden um die russisch-amerikanische Journalisten Alsu Kurmasheva und den russischen Regimegegner Wladmir Kara-Mursa.
Kara-Mursa war im April 2022 in Moskau festgenommen und ein Jahr später zu 25 Jahren Haft verurteilt worden, unter anderem wegen „Staatsverrats“ und Verbreitung von „Falschnachrichten“ über die russische Armee. Die 47 Jahre alte Kurmasheva ist für Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty tätig. Sie wurde Anfang Juni 2023 festgenommen und wegen des Vorwurfs, sie habe „Falschnachrichten“ über die russische Armee verbreitet, zu sechseinhalb Jahren Haft verurteilt – ebenso wie Gershkovich am 19. Juli, wie wenige Tage später bekannt wurde.
Biden thanked the countries that had participated in the complex negotiations on Thursday, including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey. “This is a powerful example of why it is so important to have friends in this world that you can trust and rely on,” he said, and assured that he would continue to work for the release of Americans who are wrongfully imprisoned elsewhere in the world.
According to the Turkish presidential office, the Turkish secret service MIT organized the exchange at Ankara airport. Seven aircraft were involved. The exchange was negotiated in Turkey in July on the initiative of the MIT.
Buschmann apparently played a decisive role
The so-called Tiergarten murderer Krassikow was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany in December 2021 for murdering the Chechen Selimkhan Sultanovich Changoshvili in Berlin's Tiergarten on behalf of the Russian secret service. The charges were brought by the Federal Prosecutor General, who is also responsible for the execution of the sentence in Krassikow's case.
In Berlin government circles and in circles of the Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe, there were increasing indications on Thursday that a prisoner exchange was underway. The FAZ learned from several sources that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wanted to make a statement later that evening.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) appears to have played a crucial role in the deal. As the FAZ learned from government circles, Buschmann instructed the Federal Prosecutor General Jens Rommel, who was appointed just a few months ago, in writing to refrain from further execution of the sentence in the case of the “Tiergarten murderer” Krassikow in accordance with paragraph 456a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, so that he can be handed over to Russia.
The Karlsruhe authority itself would not have refrained from suspending further execution of the sentence, as we have heard. At the Federal Court of Justice, the headquarters of the Federal Prosecutor General, the opinion prevailed that such a political decision had to be made by the ministry.
Disillusionment in the Federal Prosecutor General’s Office
The authorities said on Thursday that they were “disillusioned” by the outcome. The minister's order was legal, but there was still “little understanding”. In a case that involved a convicted murderer, not spies, “power” prevailed. The decision lost sight of the murdered man's relatives. They were too lenient towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was also heard from Karlsruhe that in the case of Krassikow the “actually correct” course of action would have been a pardon by the Federal President. Instead, a political decision was outsourced to the judiciary.
The verdict against the American reporter Gershkovich was seen as an essential prerequisite for an exchange with Russians imprisoned in the West, which had been speculated about for some time. Shortly before the verdict against the journalist, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Russian and American secret services were negotiating about it.
Gershkovich, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for “espionage” by a court in Russia's Sverdlovesk region on July 19. Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison for “espionage” by a Moscow court in 2020.
Whelan traveled to Moscow in December 2018 for a friends' wedding and was arrested shortly afterwards in his room at the Metropol Hotel in central Moscow. According to Russian sources, a USB stick with sensitive material was found on him. Whelan had previously traveled to Russia several times for private reasons, and according to his lawyer, he, who was dishonorably discharged from the US Army in 2008 on charges of theft, attracted the attention of the secret services. Among those released are human rights activist Oleg Orlov from the Memorial organization and artist Alexandra Skotschilenko.
