DOHA, 27 February 2004 — Qatar said yesterday it had charged two Russians with involvement in the assassination of a former rebel Chechen president, prompting a furious Moscow to demand the release of what it acknowledged were Russian spies.
In a statement on Russian television, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the agents had been “illegally detained”. He said they had been waging a war against international terrorism but “had nothing whatsoever to do” with the killing of the Chechen.
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, added at Russia’s request last year to a UN list of people with suspected links to the militant Islamist Al-Qaeda group, was killed by a car bomb in Qatar on Feb. 13. He had been living in Qatar for three years.
A Qatari Interior Ministry official said three men had been arrested last week but one was freed after Russian officials met Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad ibn Jassim ibn Jabr Al-Thani on Tuesday to request the release of all three.
“One of the men who was holding a diplomatic passport has already been released and the other two have been charged and referred to the prosecutor general for investigation,” he said.
The Interior Ministry official said authorities were still investigating the records and possible motives of the two Russians. “The law is taking its own course,” he said.
Ivanov, speaking on Russian state television, said: “We have demanded that Qatar authorities urgently free the illegally detained Russian citizens and they should be given a possibility of returning to their Motherland without difficulty.”
“These Russian citizens, one of whom has a diplomatic passport, are members of the Russian special services...linked to the battle against international terrorism,” he told Qatar’s ambassador in his earlier comments issued by the ministry.
Qatar tightened security after the attack and passed a law that stipulates death for “terrorist” acts.
Pro-Moscow Chechens suggested Yandarbiyev’s death was linked to internal disputes, while some Chechen rebels blamed Russia.
