DATE=10/15/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / KIDNAPPING
NUMBER=5-44526
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The release of seven United Nations workers
taken hostage in Georgia's separatist region of
Abkhazia ended without physical harm to the hostages,
but the incident serves to highlight the danger of
kidnapping throughout Russia's volatile Caucasus
region. Officials say the risk is especially high in
and around the breakaway Caucasus republic of
Chechnya. Russian Interior Ministry statistics show
that up to one-thousand-300 people have been kidnapped
in Chechnya over the last three years, with at least
five-hundred people still believed in captivity. V-O-A
Moscow correspondent Eve Conant reports that the
danger of kidnappings has kept many foreign
journalists and aid workers away from the troubled
region.
TEXT: A wave of kidnappings hit the Caucasus region
soon after Russian troops pulled out of Chechnya in
1996. Most of the blame has been placed on criminal
gangs able to operate freely in the lawless region.
But some Chechens blame Russian security services for
trying to damage the region's reputation by carrying
out the kidnappings themselves. While it is difficult
to say just who is responsible for the kidnappings,
the fact remains that the practice is a common one.
Many of the hostages are Russian conscripts serving in
army units in the Caucasus. Other victims have
included President Boris Yeltsin's envoy to Chechnya
who was freed in 1998, Russian television journalists,
and more than 60 foreigners. In one especially brutal
case, the severed heads of three Britons and one New
Zealander were found by a roadside in Chechnya. Still
missing is Russian Interior Ministry General Gennady
Shpigun kidnapped last March from the airport in
Chechnya's capital, Grozny.
Russia's Interior Ministry has compiled videotape of
hostages sent by kidnappers to raise ransom money.
The video, usually poorly lit and shaky, shows
hostages undergoing various forms of torture.
One clip shows Herbert Gregg, an American missionary
freed last June after seven months in captivity. The
video begins with the American forcibly held down so
that his face and hand is visible as his right index
finger is cut off with a knife. Mr. Gregg is later
seen clutching his injured hand and begging that
ransom money be paid quickly.
/// Act Gregg ///
This is Herbert Gregg, an American, April 12th.
/// Opt /// I'm addressing this to the American
consulate in Moscow, to my team, my
organization, to Linda, my wife, to other
friends--whoever wants to help, and to my
relatives. My situation as you can see is very,
very serious. /// End opt /// Today they cut off
a finger because the team is not acting quickly
in relation to money, and so, they say the
situation is.that without.money. a lot of money,
that a finger will go each time.
///End Act///
The amount of ransom finally paid for his release has
not been disclosed, but foreigners are considered
especially lucrative targets. Four French citizens
from the aid group, Equilibre, seized in August 1997,
were released in return for a ransom of more than
three-million dollars. The family of a Swiss engineer
freed in June 1998 paid five-hundred-thousand dollars
for his release.
///OPT///
/// Act Man crying/begging for money///
In this video clip a Russian man begs his family to
send money before he is killed. His captors cut off
his ear to make their point more clear.
/// End opt///
The graphic videotapes have also been used by Russian
politicians to increase support for their military
campaign against what they describe as "terrorists
bases" inside Chechnya. When debates were underway to
begin the campaign, lawmakers in Russia's upper house
of parliament said the video strengthened their
resolve to punish Chechen criminal gangs.
But some Chechens claim that the kidnappings are
carried out by Russian security officers as part of a
smear campaign against the breakaway republic.
One of Russia's most high profile hostage brokers is
businessman and Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky.
Another well known negotiator, retired Major
Vyacheslav Izmailov, explains the economics of
kidnapping.
/// Act Izmailov in Russian in full and
fade under ///
"A Russian soldier costs between five to 15-thousand
dollars. Civilians are ten thousand and up," he says.
"Foreigners and presidential representatives are the
most lucrative."
Several foreign news agencies have prohibited their
correspondents from reporting in the region. And most
international aid agencies, says Vera Soboleva of the
United Nations refugee agency, rely on local staff to
carry out aid efforts.
/// Act Soboleva ///
We, for example, are rendering assistance in
Ingushetia to displaced persons from Chechnya.
We do not have any international staff in
Ingushetia and we do not plan to open our office
there for security reasons.
/// End Act ///
More than 150-thousand Chechen refugees have fled to
Ingushetia to escape Russian bombing raids. Local
officials claim they are overwhelmed with the influx
and have called on international aid organizations for
help. But many foreigners say the area's reputation
as a high risk kidnapping zone makes a sizeable
foreign presence in the region highly unlikely.
(Signed)
NEB/EC/GE/JP
15-Oct-1999 13:08 PM EDT (15-Oct-1999 1708 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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