Why Putin thinks he's the winner in prisoner swap

It’s something Vladimir Putin does rarely: go to the airport to meet people off a plane. Personally.

But he was there last night: on the tarmac at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport to meet and greet those Russians whose release he’d secured from foreign jails; part of the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Out of the plane and down the steps came 10 people, including spies, sleeper agents and a convicted assassin.

“Congratulations on your return to the Motherland!” he told them.

You could tell that the Kremlin believes it has something to celebrate.

For the returning Russians there was a red carpet reception and a guard of honour. There were bouquets of flowers and - for some - hugs from the president. Mr Putin embraced Vadim Krasikov, the FSB hitman who’d been serving a life sentence in Germany for assassinating a Georgian-born Chechen dissident.

President Putin promised them all state awards.

“I would like to address those of you who have a direct connection to military service,” he continued. “Thank you for your loyalty to your oath and your duty to your Motherland, which has never forgotten you for a moment.”

There’s another message the pro-Kremlin press is putting out right now: good riddance to those Russia has freed from its prisons and who’ve been flown abroad.

“Eight Russians who’d been jailed in Nato countries have returned to the Motherland in exchange for individuals who had been acting to the detriment of Russia’s national security,” says the government paper.

Referring to the dissidents released by Moscow, Komsomolskaya Pravda claims “they have ditched their former Motherland and flown to those who hired them.”

Attempts to discredit critics and opponents; lavish praise for loyal supporters who are portrayed as true patriots. All this helps the authorities make the case with the Russian people that the prisoner swap was a success for the Kremlin.

There is little doubt that the Kremlin views the prisoner swap as a victory for Moscow. It got what it wanted… it got its agents back, including the man who was No.1 on its wish list, Krasikov. The German authorities had initially been unwilling to release a convicted assassin, who a German court had concluded had acted on behalf of the Russian authorities.

That reluctance softened as a wider deal took shape.

But why was it so important for the Kremlin to secure Vadim Krasikov’s release and to bring him home?

Today’s Russian newspapers provide a clue.

“We’re returning our guys” is the headline in the government paper Rossiyskaya Gazeta,

“We don’t abandon our own!” declares the pro-Putin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda.

That is precisely the message the Kremlin wants to send to its agents and spies: if we send you on missions abroad, and things go wrong, we’ll find a way of getting you home.