US helped Qatar arrest Russian agents

[Aidoneus]

US helped Qatar arrest Russian agents
Monday 22 March 2004

The United States helped Qatar arrest two Russian secret service agents charged with assassinating a Chechen leader.

The two Russian intelligence agents, arrested last month, are in detention charged with killing the former Chechen president Salim Khan Yandarbiyev. He died after his car blew up in the Qatari capital Doha as he was returning home from Friday prayers on 13 February.

"Concerning the arrest of the Russians, we provided minor technical assistance to Qatar but for the most part, the Qataris acted themselves," US deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs Steven Pifer told the Vremya Novostei daily on Monday.

The head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, Konstantin Kosachev, rounded on the US on Monday for having helped detain the secret agents in Qatar.

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/12E6353E-FE46-4EC3-A374-DBAE40381E51.htm

[orwell]

1. Poot Ball

Ball's in your court Pooty Poot.

O

[Kagemusha]

2. Eh? Didn't you hear? He nabbed two Qatari 'militants'.

He wasn't very subtle about it either.

[Aidoneus]

4. actually, they were part of a wrestling team

That's CLOSE to a 'militant', right??

[mobuto]

3. Why?

Maybe you disagree with Russia's methods, but why the hell are we helping the Qatari Government protect international terrorists allied with Al Qaeda? Its time for sanity.

[Aidoneus]

5. well, American officials are denying this now

Though today I saw this:--

Qatar expels Russian diplomat
Wednesday 24 March 2004

Qatar has declared the first secretary at the Russian embassy "persona non grata" and given him 24 hours to leave, amid a spat over the murder of a former Chechen president.

First secretary Alexander Vitisov has 24 hours to leave Doha, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told the official Qatar News Agency on Wednesday.

Moscow was notified on Tuesday of the move.

"I was expecting something like this, but I've not received anything official yet," said Moscow's ambassador Victor Koudryavtsev. "This person will leave if it is Qatar's decision."

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/76A118F8-135A-4713-B911-9125BCBB3B45.htm