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Russia seeks Chechen leader’s extradition from Qatar

MOSCOW: Moscow is hoping that Qatar will agree to extradite top radical Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev to Russia, a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

“We hope that the government of Qatar will react in an appropriate manner to the UN Security Council resolution,” which included the Chechen leader on a blacklist because of his alleged links to Al Qaeda and the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan, said Alexander Yakovenko, quoted by Interfax.

Yanderbiyev was placed on the UN list on Thursday. Consequently, all UN member states must freeze his funds, ban financial support and forbid him from entering their territory. “We are conducting an active dialogue on the suject with Qatar,” where Yandarbiyev has been living for the past few months, Yakovenko said.

Yanderbiyev, who was briefly acting president of breakaway Chechnya in 1996 after the republic’s first separatist war ended, is considered one of the most radical Chechen leaders. He severed ties with moderate rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov in November, ruling out negotiations with Moscow, and calling instead for “all means and methods” to be used against Russian troops. —AFP

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