Moscow, 14 November 2002 (RFE/RL) -- An international Red Cross spokesman in Moscow says two Russians working as drivers for the aid organization in Chechnya were abducted near the capital Grozny. Spokesman Vincent Lusser said today that armed, masked men forced the drivers out of their truck yesterday after they made a delivery of humanitarian aid.
The drivers are residents of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic in the Caucasus region. The men were traveling in a convoy including two trucks and a land cruiser that was returning to Ingushetia.
Another Russian who worked for a local nongovernmental organization was kidnapped in Chechnya in July, causing the United Nations to temporarily suspend its aid operations in the separatist republic. The following month a Dutch citizen working for Doctors Without Borders was abducted in neighboring Daghestan. Both abductions remain unsolved.
The drivers are residents of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic in the Caucasus region. The men were traveling in a convoy including two trucks and a land cruiser that was returning to Ingushetia.
Another Russian who worked for a local nongovernmental organization was kidnapped in Chechnya in July, causing the United Nations to temporarily suspend its aid operations in the separatist republic. The following month a Dutch citizen working for Doctors Without Borders was abducted in neighboring Daghestan. Both abductions remain unsolved.