Putin hit man seen as Russia's big prize in prison swap: 'High-value asset'

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In the biggest prisoner swap with Moscow since the Cold War, the Biden administration on Thursday secured the liberation of 16 American and German nationals held prisoner in Russia and Belarus in exchange for the release of eight Russians.

The top of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s list was hit man Vadim Krasikov, who used the cover name Vadim Sokolov and was convicted by a German court for the 2019 assassination of a former Chechen commander near Berlin’s parliamentary building.

"Krasikov is a high-ranking colonel in the elite Spetsnaz unit of the FSB," Rebekah Koffler, former DIA intelligence officer and author of "Putin’s Playbook," told Fox News Digital in reference to Russia’s intelligence agency the Federal Security Service (FSB).

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"Krasikov is a very high-value asset who will be debriefed by the Russian security services on the operation, how he got apprehended, what he learned during the interrogations in Germany, and everything the Russians are interested in," she explained. "These debriefings will help the Russians to make improvements in their operational tradecraft for Russian intelligence."

Koffler also said it is likely the Putin operative will be used to train "would-be assassins for future operations, making them even more lethal and difficult to detect