The Federal Government has clearly rejected allegations by Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the investigation into the murder in the Kleiner Tiergarten. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said the government was aware of "no request for extradition by the Russian side".
Putin had claimed at the Ukraine summit in Paris earlier this week that Russia had been demanding for years the extradition of the later murder victim Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, because they wanted to put him on trial for involvement in terrorist attacks in Moscow. German investigators were stunned by the allegation, so far at least was known of such attempts of Moscow nothing.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert again called Russia on Wednesday to cooperate in the murder investigation.
Federal Prosecutor's Office sees evidence of involvement of the Russian state
Recently, the Russian ambassador in Berlin, Sergei Netschajew, had provided with a cooperation offer to the investigators for irritations. The Ambassador's pledge to cooperate in the highly political case caused unbelieving shaking of heads among federal officials. Since the murder in the Kleinen Tiergarten, they have been trying to get information from Russia on all channels, but until now they have been running against the wall again and again.
The Georgian Khangoshvili, whom Putin recently portrayed as a terrorist and an enemy of Russia, was shot dead in the Tiergarten in Berlin at the end of August, with gunshots in his head and body. Shortly thereafter, a suspect had been arrested while trying to throw the alleged murder weapon into a river. The man is currently in custody.
Meanwhile, the federal prosecutor's office has seized the investigation and informed that there is evidence of murder on behalf of state Russian entities or the Chechen Republic. Russia immediately rejected any involvement in the murder case. The killed man was active in the Chechen war on the part of anti-Russian separatists.