Who is assassin Vadim Krasikov and why getting him freed was important for Putin

Three bullets were fired from a Glock pistol just minutes away from the office of then Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German Parliament. It was a bright August day in 2019. A former Chechen militant had been assassinated in the heart of Europe.

The assassin was on a bicycle behind his target, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. After shooting him, the assassin, a Russian, changed his clothes, threw away his wig, shaved his beard and dumped the bicycle in a river.

That cold-blooded executioner was Vadim Krasikov. And it was Krasikov's release on which the entire US-Russia prisoner swap hinged upon. The release of 26 prisoners was the largest swap in post-Soviet history between Russia and the US.

As the eight returnees reached Moscow airport, Russian President Vladimir Putin himself went there to welcome Krasikov and the others back home.

But who is Krasikov who first triggered a diplomatic battle and then gave rise to a historic prisoner swap?

'STATE TERRORISM' TO RELEASE OF VADIM KRASIKOV

As Krasikov shot dead Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili and tried to destroy the evidence, some people spotted him.

Khangoshvili had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.

Krasikov, 58, was charged "with especially serious aggravating circumstances", the most serious conviction possible in Germany. He was convicted of killing Khangoshvili, reported Reuters.

He was sentenced to life in prison in 2021.

The judge called this murder "state terrorism", stating this order could have come from none other than the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

Evidence was given stating that the Russian state was involved. Krasikov had official Russian papers with a false identity and that Putin could order the killing of state enemies abroad.

Khangoshvili had long cut his ties with the cause of Chechen independence, the judge said, reports Reuters.

"This was not an act of self-defence by Russia. This was and is nothing other than state terrorism," he said. "Four children lost their father, two siblings and their brother."

CHANGED CLOTHES, SHAVED BEARD AFTER MURDER

Krasikov was born in Kazakhstan, previously a part of the Soviet Union, in 1965. His police mugshots show a mournful face.

He was a part of Russia's FSB state security service. Here, he became a specialist assassin, according to open-source investigators. The FSB was the top successor agency of the KGB, Soviet Russia's dreaded security agency.

When Krasikov was convicted two years after the assassination in December 2021, it led to the expulsion of two of the 101 diplomats from Russia's Berlin embassy.

Krasikov entered Germany under the false identity of Vadim Sokolov.

He was arrested minutes after killing Khangoshvili. People around the killing spot saw him change his clothes, thorw away his wig, shave his beard and dump his bicycle in Spree River and reported it to the police.

In his trial, Krasikov pleaded innocent and stated he was Solokov, an engineer from St Petersburg, and that he was on a trip to Berlin.

Putin, however, has accepted his identity. He said last year, he wanted the release of someone who had "eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals", according to Reuters.

KRASIKOV IDENTIFIED BY UKRAINIANS DUE TO TATTOO

Krasikov was identified with the help of Ukraine's security services, who spotted a man with similar tattoos-of a demon with a crown and a snake, during his second marriage to a Ukrainian woman from Kharkiv in 2010, reports Reuters.

In his trial, he consistently ensured not to recognise the court, and he even removed his headphones often which relayed the interpretation when the witnesses were being heard in the court.

The decision to free him wasn't easy.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, said that people held "wrongfully" in Russia and a German held in Belarus can only be brought back by sending Russians "with an intelligence background", such as Krasikov, to Russia.

“The freedom, physical well-being and –- in some cases -– ultimately the life of innocent people imprisoned in Russia and unjustly held political prisoners stood against the state’s interest in the enforcement of the prison sentence of convicted criminals,” Hebestreit said.

“Our obligation to protect German citizens and solidarity with the U.S. were important motivations,” he added.

Russian President Putin had earlier referred to Krasikov as a "patriot".

For Putin, a KGB veteran, freeing Russian operatives is important for the success of future undercover missions, says the Associated Press. It is a kind of assurance to agents that Moscow would negotiate their release if they are caught.