Chechens ransom U.S. aid worker

MOSCOW, Russia -- An American aid worker kidnapped in Chechnya is being ransomed by a rebel group, Russia's military commander in the troubled region, said.

American Kenneth Gluck, regional head of the humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), was seized on January 9 by masked men about 12 miles (20 km) south of the Chechen capital Grozny.

Lieutenant-General Valery Baranov told Itar-Tass news agency that intermediaries had made contact with a rebel field commander named as Yakub and discussed a ransom.

He said Russian troops had nothing to do with the negotiations.

"We are taking part in the fate of Kenneth Gluck, we are actively carrying out searches for the U.S. citizen," Baranov said, adding that the kidnappers had not put forward any political demands or proposed any prisoner exchange.

Russian news agencies quoted Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo as saying on January 18 that security forces had information on who had kidnapped Gluck and on where he might be held.

Chechnya's chief prosecutor, Vsevolod Chernov, said on Saturday that no trace had been found of the American, although a man had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping.

Russia launched a military crackdown in Chechnya in October, 1999, pledging to end the lawlessness which had plagued the North Caucasus region since it won de facto independence in a 1994-96 conflict with Moscow.

Russian troops have taken control of the Chechen capital Grozny and most of the region's other districts, but they are still facing dogged resistance by small groups of rebels who have denied involvement in the seizure of Gluck.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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History of Chechnya
The Russian Constitution
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

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