DOKU ZAVGAEV’S NEPHEW KIDNAPPED IN MOSCOW.

Magomed Zakaev, son of the minister of trade in Chechnya’s former Moscow-backed government and nephew of the head of that government, Doku Zavgaev, was kidnapped yesterday in Moscow. The kidnappers say they will exchange the son for his father, Akhmed Zakaev, who is considered, in his homeland, to be an "enemy of Chechnya."

Following the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, the republic’s prosecutor general, Khabazh Serbiev, presented the Russian prosecutor general with a list of "traitors" hiding on Russian territory, and demanded that they be handed over. Both Akhmed and Doku Zavgaev were reportedly on the list.

The Chechen representation in Moscow has categorically disavowed yesterday’s kidnapping, however. "The Chechen representation will in no circumstances contact the kidnappers," said Sultan Kasimov, Ichkeria’s first deputy plenipotentiary representative in Moscow. (Kommersant-daily, February 25)

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