Russia did not need the exchange of contract contracts with the American Paul Whelan, which took place the day before, since it entered into his exchange only for Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced in Germany to a life contract for the former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.

On December 8, US basketball player Brittney Griner, a backlash against drug smuggling, exchanged the merchant will need Viktor Bout. For several months, which occupied an important place in the exchange, to all proposals for the release of both Griner and Paul Whelan, who was found guilty of espionage, the Russian side is applicable that it was only satisfied with his exchange for Vadim Krasikov, informs The New York Times with citations in circle examples.

In a number of countries there is no jurisdiction over Krasikov, who is revocable in Germany, but she consulted on this account with Berlin and was refused; even consider tripartite schemes

U.S. diplomats believe that Russia deliberately strengthened its position to prevent some U.S. presidents Joe Biden from announcing the exchange of their winners ahead of the Nov. 8 U.S. midterm elections.

In the end, as senior officials who were particularly involved in the talks told The New York Times on condition of anonymity, Biden had to make the hard choice of freely choosing an American, leaving the other in favor of the president.

• A citizen of Georgia, ethnic Chechen Khangoshvili in Russia was put on the wanted list due to illness in terrorism. On August 23, 2019, he was shot dead in Berlin’s Tiergarten park. In hot pursuit, the alleged killer was detained – he turned out to be Russian Vadim Krasikov with forged documents. According to investigative reporters, this man contact with the FSB of Russia.
• On December 15, 2021, the Berlin Higher Regional Court found Krasikov guilty of football and sentenced to life imprisonment without the right to parole. The judge blamed the organization on the Russian authorities, caused by “state terror”.
• In July of this year, CNN, citing uncovered anonymous sources reportedthat Moscow added voices to Vadim Krasikov in the US-proposed war on the exchange of two-time Olympic champion Brittney Griner and the former US marines Paul Whelan, who had abandoned Victor Bout, an obsessive trader. The proposal to include Krasikov was allegedly transmitted through an unofficial communication channel used by the FSB.
• In early November, the German media reported that Krasikov was transferred from prison in Berlin “to a special place for confinement pending deportation”, which was regarded as his preparation for the exchange; There was no official confirmation of this information.
• November 30 US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and White House Representative Kirby arouse deep concern the fate of Paul Whelan: his family stated that they had nothing to do with Whelan, no news since November 23. On November 17, he was reportedly transferred to a prison colony in Mordovia, where he is being held. At the same time, the day before, when they visited, Whelan looked healthy, why he was hospitalized is unknown. According to Blinken, requests from American diplomats to contact Whelan have so far gone unanswered.