NIn the images broadcast live on Russian television, it was possible to see how Vladimir Putin first embraced, at the foot of the plane’s stairs, Vadim Krasikov, the Federal Security Service (FSB) agent sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the murder in 2019 of a Georgian citizen.
The release of the FSB agent drew criticism from Amnesty International (AI) and the victim’s family.
The German section of AI denounced, in a statement, “a step towards the extension of judicial impunity”.
A prisoner swap operation between Russia and several Western countries has led to the release of 26 people, the largest exchange since 1985, Efe news agency reported.
Putin greeted the released prisoners one by one, whom he later met at a private event in the airport building where they arrived from Ankara, where the exchange took place.
“I would like to congratulate you, thank you very much,” he said afterwards, thanking in particular those who serve in the Russian Army “for their loyalty.”
Furthermore, he promised that everyone will receive state medals and that they will soon talk about their future.
Anna Valereva Dulceva was especially moved, crying in a hug from the Kremlin chief, who offered her a bouquet of flowers in the presence of her two children.
She was accompanied by her husband, Artem Viktorovic Dulcev, who together with his wife pleaded guilty to charges of espionage and document forgery before the Slovenian courts.
The inmates were received with state honors, as an honor guard and a red carpet awaited them as they exited the plane on their way to the airport building.
The event was also attended by the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Narishkin, and the Russian Defense Minister, Andrei Belousov.
The FSB confirmed the release of eight Russians imprisoned in NATO countries, in exchange for 15 Russians and foreigners serving sentences in prisons in that country, and a German citizen sentenced to death in Belarus.
The other four Russians released were Mikhail Mikushin, convicted of espionage in Norway, Roman Selezniov, who was serving 27 years in prison in the United States, Vladislav Kliushin, sentenced in that country to nine years for computer crimes, and Vadim Konoschenok, detained in Estonia and extradited to the United States for purchasing electronic equipment for the Russian military industry.
Putin then pardoned 13 of the sixteen prisoners handed over by Russia and Belarus to Western countries, including three Americans — including Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich –, five Germans and eight Russians, most of them activists and opponents.
The list of those pardoned did not include three German citizens who were released: Rico Krieger, pardoned this week by Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko after being sentenced to death for terrorism, and German Moyzhes and Patrick Schoebel, who the Russian justice system never formally convicted of high treason and drug trafficking, respectively.
The Kremlin expressed gratitude to the leaders of all countries that participated in the prisoner exchange.
Read Also: UN, NATO and EU welcome prisoner swap between US and Russia
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2608816/putin-recebe-no-aeroporto-8-prisioneiros-libertados-na-troca-com-ocidente
