According to the journalists' findings, Rico Krieger He recently worked as a lifeguard in German Red Cross (DRK) in Salzgitter (Lower Saxony).
30-year-old He trained as car mechanic in Brandenburg and then he worked for a security companywhich provided security for the US embassy in Berlin, the daily “Bild” reported. After work Nursing Assistant in Oranienburg he joined the DRK.
A DRK spokeswoman confirmed to the Tagesspiegel newspaper that he worked for this organization. However, he did not travel abroad for the Red Cross.
He dreamed of the USA, he ended up in Belarus
Co-workers reported that Krieger he wanted to emigrate to the USAAfter working at the US embassy, he dreamed of receiving a green card to the US, a colleague from the DRK told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
But then things took a different turn: the German allegedly contacted a Ukrainian “who he was supposed to recruit him to come to Ukraine“. “We all assumed he was going there as a rescuer,” his friend says.
His colleagues at the rescue station didn't expect Krieger to just walk away. – He just stopped coming to work and disappeared. – one of the rescuers reported. The man took his uniform with him. It was in October last year. A few days later, a family member informed DRK that the 30-year-old was detained in Belarus.
As the weekly “Spiegel” wrote, according to diplomats in Berlin, the German he boasted to his friends that he fought in Ukraine and worked for the Ukrainian secret services. One of his various LinkedIn profiles shows him with a Ukrainian flag and the words: “Pray for Ukraine.”
“It is not clear how K. ended up in Belarus,” notes “Spiegel.” “Did he enter the country directly as a 'tourist,' as he claims? regime in Minsk“Or maybe he was arrested by the Russians in Ukraine or on the Russian-Belarusian-Ukrainian border and handed over to Lukashenko's KGB, as Russian channels claim?” – German media wonder.
German sentenced to death
Last week, independent Belarusian media reported that Rico Krieger, a German citizen, was sentenced to death in Belarus.
He was tried on six criminal articles – mercenary activity, agent activity, act of terrorism, creation of an extremist formation, intentional destruction of a means of transport, illegal activities with weapons.
The man had blow up the tracks in Azaryszcze. The explosion that occurred on October 5, 2023 apparently left no one injured.
According to information from “Spiegel” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote a letter to her Belarusian counterpart in early July, calling for a fair appeal process and demanding a stay of execution. She wrote that the execution would have serious consequences for relations between Minsk and Berlin. She has not yet received a response.
Sentenced to death for an act of German terror, gave an “interview” to Belarusian state televisionDuring the conversation, he claimed that he had been carrying out tasks on orders from Ukraine and that it was supposed to be a test to get into the Belarusian Kalinowski Regiment. Krieger said in the interview that he hoped for a pardon and also maintained that the German authorities were “doing nothing at all” to secure his release.