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| Arabia |
| âUS helped Qatar to arrest Russian agentsâ |
| 2004-03-23 |
| 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 |
| #5 The Russians in general and Putin in particular haven't been what I describe as being our friends of late. Maybe this is our subtle way of sending them a message. |
| Posted by: Dakotah 2004-3-23 12:11:15 PM |
| #4 Hey, if the Russkies can't pull off a pop op in Qatar without turning up in the papers, that's somehow our fault? Like hell. The vaunted FSR... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-3-23 10:38:58 AM |
| #3 I agree with the first comment. Alot of ppl need too keep their mouth shut in the gov.! |
| Posted by: smokeysinse 2004-3-23 10:23:14 AM |
| #2 Pifer is most likely the spokesman, it's his job to talk. Read in another story on this that the FBI came in and investigated the explosion for Qatar, remember we have a large base there. The FBI technicial experts just collected info on type of bomb and presented it to the Qataris, they did the rest. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-3-23 8:29:34 AM |
| #1 Is there no American on this planet on the federal payroll who can keep his gawddamned mouth shut? Pifer should be fired, but his kind propably cannot be fired except by a panel of his likeminded, twit peers. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2004-3-23 4:43:03 AM |