I agree that its a tangled web the spymasters weave - so who knows what is really going on?
Having said that this sounds really odd. The Russians must be mad - hitting defectors (publically) after all these years? What are they trying to achieve? It certainly can’t be going to frighten others into not defecting because the cold war is over and they are trying to cozen up to the west...
They are not mad. They want to show that the KGB never forgets or forgives a traitor. They will wait for many years to carry out a death sentence, and if it is at all possible it will be carried out, no matter how long it takes.
It serves to remind potential double agents of the consequences of being a turncoat. The renaming of the KGB as the SVR does not change a thing.