TWO CITIZENS OF BELORUSSIA KIDNAPPED AT THE BEGINNING OF NOVEMBER HAVE BEEN FREED IN GROZNY

GROZNY, DECEMBER 24 - RIA NOVOSTI CORREPSONDENT KOMETA TEPSAYEVA.

Two citizens of Belorussia -- Leonid Ivanov and Dmitry Korolev -- who spent about two months in captivity, were released yesterday in Grozny by the special investigatory team which combats kidnappings. Leonid Ivanov and Dmitry Korolev came to Chechnya "on business" in the beginning of November. The released hostages said in a RIA Novosti interview that the kidnappers had wanted to get a 100,000 dollar ransom for them.

They said that they had come to Chechnya "to stay with friends in their house in Grozny." However, in the night of November 7 armed people in masks broke into the house and captured them.

One of the hostages, Leonid Ivanov, asserts that "the owners of the house must have been involved in their kidnapping," since they did not offer any resistance to the attackers. Korolev and Ivanov said that they were kept in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny "in a private two-story house." During the operation releasing them Ivanov had his heel bone fractured. The medical examination has shown that he needs surgical assistance, but in the conditions in the Grozny hospitals the operation cannot be carried out properly.

Magomet Magomadov, who heads the team told the RIA Novosti correspondent that the hostages would be handed over to a representative of Belorussia who must come to Grozny for them.

After that they will be taken to Minsk. Five criminals were detained during the operation releasing the Belorussian citizens. After the investigation they will face a sentence of the Sharia court. According to Sharia laws operating in the republic the kidnapping of people is punished by capital punishment or life imprisonment.

In the meantime people continue to be kidnapped in Chechnya. It was reported that on Wednesday, December 18, five citizens of Poland were kidnapped. They had come to Chechnya within the framework of rendering humanitarian assistance to the population of the republic. According to the latest data, dozens of people are currently held on the territory of Chechnya as hostages for ransom money. Among them are also about ten citizens of other countries.