In the diplomatic dispute over the investigation of the murder in the Berlin Small Tiergarten, the Russian ambassador to Germany, Sergei Netschayev, conciliatory: Possible shortcomings in cooperation with German investigators should be eliminated.
"I think that the cooperation on all tracks was given in principle, but I do not know to what extent," said Nechaev the "New Osnabrück newspaper". "If there are any deficiencies, then you have to find and eliminate them."
The ambassador therefore referred to the "partnership channels" between Germany and Russia, which "used to work in the past between law-enforcement bodies". These should be used and exploited to facilitate the investigation.
The Georgian Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot dead in the Tiergarten in Berlin at the end of August with shots 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.
Russian state as a suspect - authorities walled for a long time
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.
The Ambassador's pledge to cooperate in the highly political case caused unbelieving shaking of heads among federal officials. Since the murder in the Small Tiergarten, they are trying to get information from Russia on all channels. Again and again they spoke to Nechaev himself. Most recently, State Secretary Andreas Michaelis warned the ambassador at the end of November to finally abandon the blockade and at least assist in clarifying the identity of the arrested suspect.
Even before that, the Germans had repeatedly run to the wall in Moscow. An official demand of the Berlin murder investigators for administrative assistance remained unanswered. Shortly afterwards, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution tried to obtain information from the Russian services, but was dismissed.
Unspeakable threat against BND employees
When finally the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) asked about his resident in Moscow, whether one could clarify the identity of the arrested in Russia itself, the sound was rough. Any activity on Russian soil, the blatant threat at the time, would classify Moscow as an enemy operation and arrest the BND people.
Even President Vladimir Putin did not cooperate after his meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the recent Ukraine summit. Instead, Putin used a press conference in Paris to portray the victim of the brutal murder as a terrorist and enemy of Russia. He also raised new charges against Germany. So Russia allegedly for years, the extradition of the later murder victim demanded because they wanted to ask him for involvement in terrorist attacks in Moscow in court. German investigators were stunned by the Vorhalt, so far at least was known of such attempts Moscow nothing.
