25011: (news) Chamberlain: Moscow says kidnapped Russian is released in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MOSCOW, May 6 (Reuters) - A Russian kidnapped in the Haitian capital
of Port-au-Prince last week has been released, a Russian Foreign Ministry
spokesman said on Friday.
     The man, named by the ministry only as D. Khmelevsky, was working as a
United Nations contractor when he was kidnapped on April 30 along with an
Indian citizen. It was not clear whether the Indian, about whom little was
known, had also been released.
     Sources in Haiti earlier told Reuters the captors had demanded
$200,000 for Khmelevsky's release, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander
Yakovenko denied a ransom was paid.
     He said Khmelevsky was released on Thursday after joint work by the
Russian embassy in Caracas and the U.N. mission in Haiti.
     "Khmelevsky's physical and psychological condition are fine,"
Yakovenko said in a statement.