Putin issues order to kill slayers of hostages
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's secret services to find and kill those who kidnapped four Russian Embassy employees in Iraq and then executed them, the Kremlin announced.
The bluntness of the statement reflected the deep shock and anger -
much of it directed at the United States - that has unfolded in Russia after the kidnapping on June 3 in an attack that killed a fifth Russian. The Foreign Ministry confirmed the execution of the hostages Monday, following the release of a short video that showed the beheading of one of the men and the shooting of another. The video showed a head placed on a body, though it was unclear whether it was the same man shown being beheaded. The fate of the other hostages was not shown.
"The president gave instructions to the Russian special services totake all measures for finding and destroying the criminals who committedthis atrocity," the Kremlin said, according to the official Russian Information Agency.
Neither the news agencies nor state television immediately quoted Putin directly making the remark. Interfax directly quoted only the remarks he made appealing for assistance in finding those involved during a meeting with Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
Today in Europe
The Russian president has made similarly pointed threats against Chechnya's separatist fighters and those who have carried out terrorist attacks in Russia. Early in the second war in Chechnya, Putin vowed to destroy the separatists in their outhouses. And four Chechen separatist leaders have been killed in strikes or raids since thesecond war began in 1999, most recently on June 17 when Russian forces killed the latest leader, Abdul Khalim Saidullayev.
How exactly Russian agents might carry out Putin's order inIraq remains unclear, given how little is known about the group thatcarried out the kidnapping and subsequent executions: the Mujahedeen Shura, or Council of Holy Warriors, a group that says it represents Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other insurgent groups in Iraq.
The only known instance of Russian special forces carrying out an attack abroad came in February 2003 when a bomb destroyed a car being driven in Qatar by Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, another Chechen leader. Although Russia denied involvement, a court in Qatar convicted two Russian agents later that year and said there was evidence thatYandarbiyev's assassination had been ordered by "the Russian leadership."
Nikolai Patrushev, director of the Federal Security Service,said that no effort would be spared in carrying out Putin's order "no matter who much time and effort will be needed."
"We should be working so that not a single terrorist responsiblefor the crime would escape responsibility," Patrushev said in remarkscited by Russian agencies that stopped short of a direct threat to killthose responsible.
The United States, along with many other countries, has denouncedthe killings of the embassy workers - including a third secretary, amaintenance worker, driver and a cook - as an act of terror. American military commanders in Iraq pledged to help find the hostages and, aftertheir deaths, to help find those who killed them. But far from findingcommon cause over the killings, many Russian officials, clerics,politicians and commentators have blamed the deaths on the United Statesand the failure of the U.S.-led forces to provide security.
On Wednesday, the lower house of Parliament voted to adopt a statement referring to the "occupying countries" in Iraq, blaming them for the deaths.
"We believe they could have prevented the tragedy," the statement said.
