On 29 August, the British investigative journalism website Bellingcat identified the identity of the accomplice in the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoschvili, which happened on 24 August 2019.
The person was identified as Roman Yuryevich Demyanchenko, a former FSB Spetsnaz officer and current undercover FSB asset working under the cover of the Vympel Group of companies. He was previously known under the aliases “Roman Davydov” and “Roman Nikolaev”. Moscow residential data showed that Demyanchenko was a pensioner as early as in 2011, at age 31, and that as of 2008 he was listed in Moscow residential databases as a person entitled to state benefits – a status usually given to people who have received a state award. The investigation further revealed that Demyanchenko, under the name Roman Davydov, travelled to the Schengen area two weeks before the Kleiner Tiergarten murder using a Slovak visa issued at the Slovakian St. Petersburg consulate.
On 28 June, the German news outlet “Der Spiegel” wrote that the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) of Germany and the Federal Prosecutor's Office revealed a second possible suspect in Khangoschvili’s case (Caucasus watch reported). The German Chancellor Angela Merkel also gave her opinion following the unveiling of further details in the case. “The murder in Tiergarten Park in Berlin is a serious incident that is being discussed in court. We realize that hybrid war and destabilization methods are a typical example of Russia’s behaviour,” she said. However, Merkel noted that despite the existing threats, it was necessary to continue a constructive dialogue between Germany and Russia.
On 17 February, Belingcat identified Khangoschvili’s murder as Vadim Krasikov, a former Spetsnaz officer who was co-opted by the Russian security services for the operation. The article further read that both the FSB and Russian police were aware of the true identity of the Krasikov but chose to lie to the German authorities by denying that “Vadim Sokolov” was a fake identity. The article also said that the Russian authorities attempted to scrub all public data relating to the killer’s true identity, as well as data linked to his immediate family (Caucasus Watch reported).
