Russian diplomat shortly kidnapped in Buenos Aires

The Russian official Vasily Borisenko was taken hostage for three hours after attending to a religious ceremony in an Orthodox Church of Buenos Aires
The Cultural Attachй of the Russian Embassy in Argentina, Vasily Borisenko, was Sunday evening taken hostage by a group of kidnappers in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Borisenko was surprised by the criminals in the proximity of the Russian Orthodox Church located in Villa Ballester, some 20 kilometers away from Capital's center. 

According to reports from the police, Borisenko remained captive for three hours and then released by midnight. Kidnappers communicated with the Russian Embassy and asked for "an unspecified but surely large" amount of money to leave Borisenko free. However, they decided to release him after noting the spectacular operative launched by the police to rescue the diplomat.

PRAVDA.Ru could know that, in principle, kidnappers did not know who was Borisenko until he told them. Therefore, they could have attacked him only because they took him by a rich person and not by political reasons. Mr Borisenko is in good health and did not suffered injures from the kidnappers. 

The Russian Embassy did not issue any official statement about the situation, despite the insistence of the local and international press in Buenos Aires.

Kidnapping became an industry in Argentina since 2001 financial collapse, as a way to secure easy quick money for criminals. To crackdown the wave of cases, the Congress recently passed a new legislation pushed by new President Nestor Kirchner that hardens penalties on kidnapping condemns.

Buenos Aires,
Argentina