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âUS helped Qatar to arrest Russian agentsâ
The United States helped Qatar to arrest two Russian secret service agents on murder charges, a senior US diplomat said in an interview published on Monday, an admission bound to raise hackles in Moscow. The two Russian intelligence agents, arrested last month, are charged with assassinating a leading Chechen rebel, the former president of the breakaway republic, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, in the Qatari capital on February 13.âConcerning the arrest of the Russians, we provided minor technical assistance to Qatar but for the most part, the Qataris acted themselves,â US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Steven Pifer told the Vremya Novostei daily. Russia has demanded that Qatar free the two Russian agents, denying that they had anything to do with the murder of Yandarbiyev, who died after his car blew up in Doha as he was returning home from Friday prayers. The affair has turned into a full-blown diplomatic row as Moscow in apparent retaliation detained two Qatari citizens in transit on February 26, and is reported to be negotiating for a swap. Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-03-23 |
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