Russian Foreign Ministry Expresses Gratitude To Colombia For The Release Of Russian Citizen

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday expressed its gratitude to the government, law enforcement bodies and human rights organisations of Colombia for the release of Russian citizen Viktor Bychek, and asked all Russian citizens staying in Colombia to use caution. According to an official report of the Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department, distributed on Thursday, Viktor Bychek, 51, was freed "owing to insistent efforts of the Russian authorities, repeated appeals by the Russian Foreign Ministry, and active work by the Russian embassy in Bogota." Russia believes that the release "confirms once again the constructive nature of interaction between Moscow and Bogota on a wide range of issues," the report said. Bychek was kidnapped in September by a group of armed people at the construction site of the Iquira hydroelectric power plant in Colombia. Before his trip to that country, he had participated in the construction of a hydro in El Salvador.