U.S. aid worker recovers after kidnap

MOSCOW, Russia -- An American aid worker freed after almost a month-long kidnap ordeal in Chechnya is recovering in Moscow.

Kenneth Gluck is due to leave within the next two days but it is uncertain if he will fly straight home to the U.S. He may first call at The Netherlands headquarters of the charity he works for, Medecins Sans Frontieres.

"He's feeling well, he's very happy to finally be back in Moscow and he's just having to catch up with friends and on his sleep," MSF spokeswoman Kris Torgeson said.

Gluck, who turned 39 on Wednesday, is head of MSF's North Caucasus mission, and was freed on Saturday after being held hostage for 26 days.

Russia says Gluck was freed in a special operation by its FSB domestic security service, but that version of events has been disputed and the Russian press is rife with speculation.

He arrived in Moscow on Tuesday evening but declined to comment to journalists on the circumstances of his release or his January 9 abduction south of the Chechen capital Grozny.

No details have emerged of how he was freed or if anyone has been arrested. Torgeson said she could not explain the mystery.

Gluck said on Tuesday he felt healthy and happy and did not intend to let his ordeal stop his work.

Scared into silence

Although kidnapping for cash is common in Chechnya, a region ravaged by two bloody Kremlin crackdowns since 1994, Russian officials have said he was freed without payment of a ransom.

Both Movladi Udugov, an unofficial spokesman for Chechen guerrilla leaders and the rebels' Web site (www.kavkaz.org) have insisted the affair was an FSB plan to discredit the separatists and improve its international image.

Kommersant newspaper, which earlier this week quoted an FSB official as denying its agents had freed Gluck, quoted an MSF official as saying Gluck had been scared into silence.

"I have the feeling that someone scared him to death and now Kenneth only wants one thing -- to get home as soon as possible. And he won't stay silent there."

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Moscow said it had done everything it could to secure Gluck's freedom.

"We have co-operated throughout with the authorities on his release. Now the formalities have to be completed and he can return home," he said.

He said the incident underlined Washington's warning to Americans thinking of working in a turbulent and impoverished region.

"We have several times warned U.S. citizens on the dangers of working in the North Caucasus," he said. "The warning is still in effect."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Medicins sans Frontieres
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History of Chechnya

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