The man, initially identified as Vadim Sokolov, was arrested on suspicion of shooting a Georgian dead in a park on August 23. German investigators suspect that his real name could be Vadim Krasikov.

"The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees does not have an asylum request containing all personal details that we have about the suspect," a spokesman for the Interior Ministry told the German magazine.

A French newspaper, Le Monde, was the first to report about the alleged asylum plea, claiming that the suspect had entered the EU borderless zone through France and the request should have landed there.

The report alarmed the German Interior Ministry, the weekly said. Its officials sifted through their databases over the weekend in search of the suspect’s application under either name but it turned up nothing.

Germany accused Russia or government officials in its Chechen region of being behind the killing of a Georgian man believed to have fought on the side of Chechen militants. Moscow denied the accusation. Berlin declared two Russian diplomats personae non gratae on Wednesday.