Western media accuse F.S.B. of kidnapping foreigners

Two authoritative periodicals in a row: Le Monde (France) and Washington Post (US) stated about the involvement of the FSB (Russian Federal Security) in the kidnapping of Dutch humanitarian worker Arjan Erkel, 33, a regional director of Doctors Without Borders (often known by its French name, Medicins Sans Frontiers).

On August 12 Le Monde wrote about the doubtful role of Russian secret services in the kidnapping of the MSF representative. The article mentioned that a year ago on August 12, 2002, on the road north of Makhatchkala in Dagestan a group of armed men kidnapped Dutch citizen Arjan Erkel, humanitarian worker of the Swiss branch of Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontiers, MSF). A year went by and Arjan's relatives keep demanding that the Russian authorities make their searches more active.

This story did not cause much of interest among the mass media, but many questions on the role of Russian secret services have been arising. MSF has repeatedly been reproaching Moscow for being reluctant and for even «obstructing» the investigation of the Arjan Erkel Case. At the moment of the kidnapping 33-year-old Erkel was the only Western representative stationed in the region, where his mission was to assist refugees from Chechnya.

Meanwhile Moscow is putting pressure on foreign humanitarian organizations in the issue of providing aid in Chechnya, because Russian authorities are trying to conceal the facts of gross violations of human rights of the Republic's peaceful civilians.

Some sources in Dagestan have confirmed that on that very evening when Arjan Erkel was kidnapped, a car belonging to the local branch of Russian FSB was spotted in the area. The men inside the vehicle were watching for what was happening and did not interfere in the events. This information was published in Dutch newspaper Handelsblad and confirmed by a high-ranking official in Dagestan's police (Ministry of Internal Affairs), who added that FSB agents, who were present at the scene of kidnapping, «were unarmed and had no means to interfere».

According to a former Russian serviceman Vyacheslav Ismailov, who has been a part of the actions on releasing the ones kidnapped in Chechnya, FSB involvement in Arjan Erkel's kidnapping is beyond any doubts. This version can be confirmed by yet another fact. A few days before Erkel was kidnapped, he had a dinner in a restaurant in Makhatchkala with two representatives of the military attache of the US Embassy in Moscow. In August 2002 in the Caspian Sea near the shores of Dagestan Russia organized large-scale military training exercises in order to strengthen its influence in that region, which is rich in hydrocarbons and which has an important geopolitical position and common borders with Central Asia.

Kavkaz-Center News

2003-08-15 02:31:36