Putin’s hitman, spies and a credit card fraudster: The prisoners returned to Russia in historic swap

While there is only one known assassin among them, all of the Russians exchanged in Thursday’s trade have unique, and in most cases, quite surreal, backstories, reports Justin Rohrlich

A rogue’s gallery of Russian spies, crooks, and at least one assassin were released Thursday in a prisoner swap that saw numerous Americans released from Russian jails (Sputnik)

Perhaps the most notorious among the eight Russians handed back Thursday by the US in a prisoner swap that freed 16 others, including American journalist Evan Gershkovich, was 58-year-old hitman Vadim Krasikov.

In 2021, Krasikov was sentenced to life in prison by a German court, which found him guilty of murder. He had been arrested after an audacious daylight assassination in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten park, gunning down Chechen separatist commander and Kremlin enemy Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili. Wearing a dark wig, Krasikov ambushed the Georgia-born 40-year-old Khangoshvili, who had been granted political asylum in Germany, shooting him twice in the head and once in the torso, using a Glock 26 fitted with a silencer, according to prosecutors.

Vadim Krasikov was arrested by police in Berlin after two teenagers reported him for fatally shooting a Kremlin foe in broad daylight (Berlin Police)

Krasikov was quickly arrested, having been outed by a pair of teenage witnesses who told police Krasikov approached Khangoshvili on a bicycle, shot him, then ditched the bike, a bag, and the wig in the Spree River. However, the Kremlin denied any involvement or any connection between Krasikov and the Russian state. Such accusations were “absolutely groundless,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time.

Still, Russian President Vladimir Putin made no secret of his antipathy for Khangoshvili, calling him a “cruel and bloodthirsty person.” And he would eventually indicate more than a passing affection for Krasikov in a February interview with American TV host Tucker Carlson, calling him a patriot and saying he had “eliminated a bandit.” Still, the Russians never claimed credit for him or the Khangoshvili killing — until now.

Krasikov was the first to step off a Russian government plane early Friday at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, where he was greeted with a hug by Putin, who reportedly wanted Krasikov freed more than any of the others.

Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov is greeted by President Vladimir Putin, his de facto boss, after landing in Moscow (Sputnik)

“Krasikov is an FSB employee,” Peskov said later at a press conference, the first confirmation that the Khangoshvili murder was indeed ordered by Russian authorities.

Seven other Russians were exchanged in Thursday’s swap, which took place on an airport tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, following two years of intense negotiations. And while Krasikov was the only known assassin among them, all have their own unique, and in some cases, quite surreal, backstories.

“Maria and Ludwig”

Among the returnees were two Russian deep-cover sleeper agents, known in the intelligence community as “illegals,” Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva. The husband-and-wife team had been running an art gallery in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana while posing as Argentineans named Ludwig Gisch and Maria Mayer.

“Ludwig” and “Maria” were actually Russian deep-cover spies Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, according to a Kremlin spokesman (Handout)

The couple’s two children thought they were Argentinean, and had no idea they were Russian, until yesterday (Handout)

Their two young daughters attended an international school in the city, and spoke fluent Spanish. The Dultsevs were arrested in December 2022, and on Thursday pleaded guilty in a Ljubljana court to spying and falsifying documents. They were sentenced to 19 months in prison, then released on time served and ordered out of the country. The next day, the pair and their children were on a flight to Turkey, which is when the girls were informed they were not, in fact, Argentineans.

“The children of the illegals who arrived yesterday only found out they were Russian on the plane from Ankara,” Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said at a press conference. “They do not speak Russian… You probably saw that when the children came down the plane’s steps… Putin greeted them in Spanish. He said, ‘Buenas noches.’”

Peskov said the two girls knew little about Russia and “didn’t even know who Putin was.”

“This is how the ‘illegals’ work,’” he said. “They make such sacrifices out of dedication to their work.”

Roman Seleznev

Vladivostok native Roman Seleznev, 32, was indicted by the US in 2011 on charges of stealing millions of credit card numbers from more than 500 American businesses. He earned about $2 million in profit from selling the pilfered data, but caused nearly $170 million in losses overall, according to US investigators.

Roman Seleznev, the son of a Russian politician, made millions off of stolen credit card data (US District Court for the Western District of Washington)

Seleznev, whose father is a member of the Russian parliament, stayed out of US authorities’ reach until July 2014, when he traveled to the Maldives on vacation and was arrested, then extradited to the States. He was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison.

Vladislav Klyushin

Vladislav Klyushin, who owned a Moscow IT firm called M-13, was also nabbed while vacationing, this time on a ski trip to Switzerland in March 2021. US authorities had charged Klyushin and four other Russians over a $90 million “global get-rich-quick scheme” to hack into confidential corporate records, then trade stocks using the stolen inside information. Klyushin, who was sent to the US the following year for trial, was convicted in February 2023 on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and securities fraud, and sentenced that September to nine years in prison.

Vladislav Klyushin ran a “global get-rich-quick scheme” that used hacked insider info to profit on manipulated stock trades (US District Court for the District of Massachusetts)

“The jury saw Mr. Klyushin for exactly what he is — a cybercriminal and a cheat,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement at the time. Klyushin’s four co-conspirators, who include a former Russian military intelligence officer wanted by the US for allegedly interfering in the 2016 presidential election, remain at large.

Mikhail Mikushin

A senior military intelligence officer with Russia’s GRU, Mikhail Valerievich Mikushin arrived at the University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway in 2021 as “José Assis Giammaria.” Claiming to be a Brazilian citizen, Mikushin researched “hybrid threats,” and served as a guest lecturer there until October 2022, when he was arrested and detained on charges of improper entry.

Russian spy Mikhail Mikushin lectured at a university in Norway while pretending to be a Brazilian named Jose (Creative Commons 4.0)

Although a joint investigation by independent Russian media outlet The Insider and open-source wizards Bellingcat definitively exposed him as a “poorly disguised” member of Russia’s intelligence services, Mikushin refused to reveal his actual identity to Norwegian authorities until December 2023. He remained in custody until Thursday’s swap.

Vadim Konoshchenok

FSB officer Vadim Konoshchenok was extradited to the US in July 2023 following his arrest in Estonia, where he was accused of conspiring to illegally procure and export American military technology and ammunition for Russia to use on the battlefield against Ukraine. “Let this case serve as the latest example that no matter where you are in the world, if you violate US export controls or evade US sanctions, we will not rest until you face justice in a US courtroom,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement announcing Konoshchenok’s capture.

FSB officer Vadim Konoshchenok was accused of sanctions evasion and violating US export laws for allegedly trying to ship sensitive electronics and ammunition to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine (US District Court for the Eastern District of New York)

“This defendant… smuggled hundreds of thousands of illicit munitions in support of Moscow’s war machine, using front companies to conceal his criminal enterprise,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. At the time of Thursday’s prisoner swap, Konoshchenok was facing up to 30 years in a US prison, if convicted.

Pavel Rubtsov

Born in Russia, Pavel Rubtsov’s mother took him to live in Spain when he was 9. Just a few days after Moscow invaded Ukraine, unprovoked, in February 2022, Polish authorities announced the arrest in Nabarniz, Spain, of a freelance journalist who called himself Pablo González but was actually Rubtsov. In reality, he was an undercover GRU officer pretending to be a writer, according to investigators.

Pavel Rubtsov was a Russian spy masquerading as a freelance journalist from Spain, according to investigators. (Creative Commons 4.0)

“He carried out activities for Russia using his journalistic status,” Poland’s Internal Security Agency told Voice of America. “As a result, he was able to move freely around Europe and the world, including zones affected by armed conflicts and areas of political tension.” Rubtsov’s lawyer said his client denied the accusations, as did Rubtsov’s wife of 16 years.