Russians Freed in Nigeria in Total Secret
Six Russians that were abducted in Nigeria two months ago were finally freed Tuesday. All parties concerned praise the government of Nigeria for success, saying it managed to convince militants to release hostages without any ransom. Regardless, the pains of Moscow were apparently no less in extent. It emerged that Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners was attracted to negotiations, but this law firm traditionally executes the most important orders of the Kremlin.
Six Russian hostages, five of them employed with RUSAL’s Alscon Aluminum Smelter in Nigeria, were freed late on Tuesday after spending two months in captivity. Out of militants’ prison are Vladimir Filippov, Alscon general director, Irina Matrosova, deputy director for personnel, Igor Petukhov, transport manager, interpreters Viktor Khaleev and Natalia Panoshkina, and Panoshkina’s father Alexander Panoshkin, who arrived to visit his daughter. The Russians were shown to reporters, not for giving interviews though.
Sources close to RUSAL management said the agreement on hostages’ release to Nigeria’s government was reached a fortnight ago. Of interest is that Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners was one of the intermediaries.
In RUSAL, they say the matter of principal importance was to avoid any ransom. Otherwise, the abduction of employees would become a common practice.
According to sources close to the Kremlin, the release of RUSAL managers was supervised at the highest level. Another distinctive feature of the operation was the veil of secrecy over RUSAL efforts to free its employees. The Russians even abandoned tradition pattern of communicating via the chief of some tribe, preferring instead to act exclusively via the government.
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All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 09, 2007
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