German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was visibly relieved about the historic prisoner exchange with Russia this Friday as he greeted 12 of the released prisoners at the Cologne Bonn Airport.
Their reception was reserved in comparison to the jubilant scenes in Washington, where US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris embraced journalist Evan Gershkovich and other former prisoners in front of media.
Scholz spoke only a few words, saying that the exchange had only been possible "through intensive cooperation with many European countries and especially with the United States of America over a very long period of time."
He went on to say that he believed this agreement had been the right decision in the end, and that anyone with doubts would reconsider after speaking to those who were now free.
Independent of any moral or ethical assessment, the exchange was a major diplomatic achievement.
Russia released 16 prisoners in the exchange, among them four with German passports. In return, eight Russians were released, including the "Tiergarten murderer" Vadim Krassikov. He was sentenced to life in prison in late 2021 after a Berlin court found him guilty of fatally shooting a Georgian of Chechen origin in the city's central Tiergarten park in August 2019.
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