A German citizen sentenced to death in Belarus told who he worked for

The explosion on the railway at the Ozerishche station in Belarus was organized on the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine. Rico Krieger, a German citizen sentenced to capital punishment, told about this in an interview with the Belarusian state TV channel Belorussia 1.

"You have no idea how difficult it is for me to tell all this. It was the biggest mistake of my life and probably the last," he said.

In an interview, Rico Krieger told how a year ago he decided to go to Ukraine to join the foreign legion of mercenaries.

"I have the skills of a rescue medic, I have been working with them for more than a year, providing assistance, for example, in cases such as road accidents, heart attacks. In Germany, this is a good profession, I mastered it for my own money. In Berlin, the lifeguard course lasts 9 months. I got all the theory and practice there. In addition, I worked in the security service of the American Embassy in Berlin. There he learned how to handle weapons. And with pistols, and with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Training with short and long-barreled weapons took place every three months. In addition, I am familiar with the device of a sniper rifle," he said.

Krieger said that he constantly watched the news from Ukraine on TV and decided that "he might come in handy there." As an orderly, he earned 2.8 thousand euros in Germany, and this is less than in the regiment with which he eventually contacted.

"But they offered 2 thousand euros per month. However, in the event of my death, the family would have received a fairly large sum — about 420 thousand euros," the mercenary said.

In an interview, the criminal said that, according to his information, there are about 132 formations of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine now. He sent applications to everything he could find, but it turned out that the document verification process was long enough, which did not suit him. The formation that responded faster than others offered to join its ranks, however, after some kind of training, completing tasks.

"I was contacted by their curators from the SBU, the Security Service of Ukraine. They checked my documents and called me on my mobile phone via video link. A masked man was talking to me. There were two flags in the background: Ukrainian and unknown to me — just different stripes, two white and red," Krieger said.

The terrorist also said that in one of these conversations he received an offer to fly to Minsk to perform important tasks. If successful, he would have returned to Germany and headed from there to Ukraine.

"It was explained to me that an agreement would be signed with me at the level of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. They said they would contact the German government and I would be able to join a foreign military formation. Now, I think the SBU used me to complete the tasks they needed in Minsk. I did not receive money from them, I did everything for my own. It didn't seem strange to me then. In the German media they constantly say: it is worth believing the Ukrainian authorities, and I actually trusted them," Krieger said.

After that, he bought a plane ticket, sent a photo, as requested. According to the mercenary, the route in Minsk was difficult: through Azerbaijan, from Berlin to Baku, there is a wait of 13 hours, then a flight to Minsk. Krieger said that before arriving in Minsk in The SBU told him that he would have to complete a certain task in Osipovichi.

"I didn't know what it was back then. I was told they would give me clear coordinates and instructions. In addition to checking into the hotel, it was necessary to buy a military jacket. They explained it in order not to stand out from the locals. Say, many people go there like that. In Osipovichi, using the coordinates from the SBU, I filmed military facilities," he said.

I sent the photos I took via messenger.

"When I returned to Minsk, I was informed that I did a great job. Ukraine is proud of me, I have saved thousands of lives. And in the evening I was informed that tomorrow I had to take photos already at the Ozerishche station. I sent the photos I took again. I was told that everything is just fine. And it seemed that there would be no more tasks. But the message comes again: you need to go to a certain place by coordinates and find one backpack. It was the evening of October 5th, it was already dark. At the indicated place there was tall grass, about a meter. But I found the backpack," said Rico Krieger.

He was confirmed that this is exactly the same backpack. After that, he received a message — the same photo that he took in the morning at the Ozerishche station. That is, the backpack should be left there, by the standing car. However, at that time the car was no longer there.

"Then they write: put the backpack on the railway, next to the rails, at the platform. I was asked several times in the messenger if I really left my backpack at the place they indicated. I just took a photo and sent it. It was a small black backpack. He weighed two, maybe three kilograms," the terrorist said.

The mercenary reported that he had left his backpack at the station around 9 pm, and later he found out that an explosion had occurred in that very place.

"Now I am reassured that no one was injured, that there were no human casualties," Krieger said.

He also said that Berlin does not want to make contact with Minsk on his issue, and "the German authorities are not doing anything at all." The mercenary himself very much hopes that the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will "forgive and pardon him."

Recall, the Minsk Regional Court has found Rico Krieger guilty of committing an act of terrorism, cooperation with the special service of a foreign state, undercover activities, mercenary activities, participation in an extremist formation and other crimes. At the trial, he pleaded guilty to only one article — agent activity, and refused to testify. As a result, Krieger was sentenced to death, and the criminal himself did not appeal the verdict. Later, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said that Minsk and Berlin were holding consultations on the current situation and, taking into account the request of the German side, it was offered "concrete solutions on the available options for the development of events."