HOSTAGE AIRMEN TO BE FREED TODAY?

Publication: Monitor Volume: 1 Issue: 159

The Ministry for Emergency Situations hopes to bring home today the seven Russian airmen held hostage by the Taliban grouping in Afghanistan’s city Kandahar. According to a ministry statement, representatives of Yeltsin’s office, the Russian government, and the Foreign Ministry, together with a medical team, flew to Kandahar December 18 to bring the hostages home. An earlier medical mission discovered that some hostages had contracted dangerous diseases and insisted they be immediately released for hospitalization in Russia. The seven airmen were transporting arms and ammunition for Afghan government troops in a privately-owned, Russian-registered airplane when their plane was forced down in Taliban-controlled Afghan territory. (7)

Generals Get Marshal Stars.