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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Russian 'Kidnapped' by Syrian Rebels |
| 2013-10-25 |
| [An Nahar] Russia is investigating reports one of its citizens was kidnapped in Syria after a video of the man pleading to be rescued was posted online, a report said Thursday. The video, posted on YouTube, shows a man who identifies himself as Russian citizen Sergei Gorbunov and asks Moscow to help free him. He says his captors will release him in exchange for a Saudi national, but failing that, have threatened to kill him within five days. "I ask the presidents of Syria, Russia, the Red Thingy... I am very afraid... I want to return to Russia. Help me," he says in lightly accented Russian. The Russian foreign ministry is investigating the video, which has been widely broadcast on television, a source told the Interfax news agency. "The information about the situation concerning Russian citizen Sergei Gorbunov in Syria is being checked by the Russian embassy in Damascus," the source said. News agencies said the kidnapping had already been claimed by Katiba al-Muhajireen, an Islamist group comprised mainly of imported muscle, including many from Chechnya. The video shows the man, who has short hair and a beard, sitting down against a white wall. He says he was captured at the Menagh airport and that his captors want to exchange him for a Saudi national named Khaled Suleiman, who was tossed in the calaboose Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! in the central Syrian city of Hama. Menagh is a military airport near Aleppo that was seized several months ago by Salafist tough guys. "The Mohammedans told me that I can be exchanged," he says in the blurry footage. "If I am not exchanged in five days, then they will kill me." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Spetsnaz, you forgot the Spetsnaz. Yep the guys who for years have provided all those big lumpy ruthless guys for the French Foreign Legion... If this is for real, my best advice for these rebels is to leave town and DON'T answer the door. Of course, the Russians are so divinely covert, this might be a great ruse to get an advisor to the Russian favorite rebel group...just saying, if you think ole Vlad is a bit obscure, just imagine what his buddies over at the latest version of the bureau of state security (SVR) have cooked up to control the rebellion in Syria. |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2013-10-25 17:29 |
| #1 These kidnappers have picked on the wrong country. Unlike Obama, Putin will pursue KGB, Mother Russia and all. A price will be paid. |
| Posted by: Dale 2013-10-25 07:20 |