Germany charges Russian citizen over murder of former Chechen commander

Germany’s Attorney General’s Office has charged a Russian citizen with the 2019 murder of former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin, reports the department’s website.

The Attorney General’s Office did not release the name of the accused, referring to him as “Vadim K., alias Vadim S.” He has also been charged with violating weapons laws. 

Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot dead in a Berlin park in August 2019. The German Attorney General’s Office believes that this was done “on behalf of state agencies of the Russian Federation.” According to German officials, Khangoshvili’s assassination was “ordered” due to his role as a separatist field commander during the Second Chechen War. 

A joint investigation from The Insider, Bellingcat, and Der Spiegel claims that the suspect’s name is Vadim Nikolaevich Krasikov. He was arrested immediately after Khangoshvili’s murder.

According to the investigation, Krasikov was wanted in Russia in connection with two contract killings, but in 2015 he was removed from the Interpol database, as well as Russia’s federal wanted list, and issued a passport under the name Vadim Sokolov.