MOSCOW - The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed surprise about the recent publications stating that the Russian Embassy in Libya handed Russian citizens Alexander Shadrov and Vladimir Dolgov over to the Libyan rebels.
“The Russian Foreign Ministry continues to take active action to resolve the problem of Russian citizens Alexander Shadrov and Vladimir Dolgov, who were convicted in Libya. The necessary pressure is being continually put on the Libyan state structures, which are in charge of this issue, to ensure that the Russian citizens return to their homeland as soon as possible,” Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative on human rights, democracy, and supremacy of law, told Interfax on Wednesday.
“The statements saying that the Russian Embassy in Tripoli allegedly handed Alexander Shadrov and Vladimir Dolgov over to the Libyans are surprising to say the least,” the diplomat said.
Izvestiya earlier reported that the Russian Embassy in Libya “in effect handed oil workers Alexander Shadrov and Vladimir Dolgov over to the Libyan rebels.”
The newspaper made that conclusion from a statement made by Taisiya Shilova, the wife of one of the Russians, at a roundtable meeting. “I am interested to know how it happened that my husband was handed over to the Libyans from the embassy, where he was located,” Izvestiya quoted Shilova as saying.
In the meantime, Konstantin Dolgov said Alexander Shadrov and Vladimir Dolgov were detained in Tripoli together with 25 citizens of Ukraine and Belarus by members of the rebel battalion Kakaa on August 27, 2011. “We are talking about the period when military action still continued in the Libyan capital. The embassies of the U.S. and the EU countries were closed for safety reasons,” the diplomat said.
