On 6 December 2019, German media outlets reported that the German Federal Intelligence Service had received information that a Russian state agency plans to kill "Vadim Sokolov" in German prison to get rid of the witness. Perceiving it as credible, the German authorities transferred Stepanov to an unknown prison in Germany. On 4 December 2019, the German Federal Foreign Office accused Russia of refusing to cooperate in the investigation of Khangoshvili murder and expelled two Russian foreign office diplomatic employees working in Berlin. An official request for assistance in the case hadn't been put up until then; it was submitted to Russia two days after the expulsion. In response, Russia expelled two German diplomats on 12 December.