ITAR-TASS Information Agency, November 15, 1999

Altogether 1,289 persons have been kidnapped on the territory of the North-Caucasian region, 781 of whom have been released; the number of kidnappings has dropped dramatically since the launch of the operation of the federal forces in Chechnya, Lieutenant General of the Militia Vladimir Kozlov, the chief of the Main Directorate for Organized Crime of the Interior Ministry of Russia, told ITAR-TASS on Sunday. According to him, 506 persons are still being held in captivity, including 53 women, 59 servicemen of interior troops and the Defense Ministry, 62 officers and men of the Interior Ministry, 18 minors and 13 foreigners. As Kozlov stressed, "they are those whom we can identify by name."

According to the general, kidnappings "have long become a lucrative business on the territory of Chechnya." The gangs practicing kidnapping are led "not just by so-called field commanders, but also by former and even active officers of the law- enforcement agencies of the Chechen Republic." "I insist that kidnappings for ransom have become a veritable business in Chechnya, moreover, a business backed by the leadership of that bandit entity," said Kozlov. "This alone shows that Ichkeriya is a center of international terrorism. Moreover, this region is the source of many other crimes."

He also said that although over the past few months "the Main Directorate for Organized Crime has been focussing special attention on the North Caucasian region, geographically we are not limited to the South of Russia." This autumn alone, as Operation Terek-2 was carried out, more than 1,300 inspections of businesses controlled by North Caucasian and Transcaucasian crime groups have been conducted. Altogether 80 businesses were closed and 6 million rubles, 23 kilograms of platinum concentrate, 450 kilograms of industrial gold and non-ferrous metals to the total value of over 800,000 rubles were seized. "This is a telling blow to the bandit groupings," the general said. "Once they have no money, they have no weapons, transport or communications."