Syrian insurgents practice mass abductions for ransom, says Ukrainian journalist Kochneva
Ukrainian journalist Anhar Kochneva, who recently fled from captivity in Syria, has accused Syrian insurgents of mass abductions.
"This is impossible to investigate. Unfortunately, this happens every day, these are bandits," Kochneva said at a press conference at the Interfax press center in Kyiv on Tuesday. "They simply abduct people and trade them in," she said.
She accused the West of trying "to destroy this country by the people's hands" through supporting the insurgents.
Kochneva said the insurgents armed themselves heavily in the several months that she was held in captivity, including with Ukrainian weapons that were earlier purchased by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. She also suggested that mercenary forces are killing civilians in the country.
Syrian Ambassador to Ukraine Mohamed Said Akil said at the press conference that the country was developing well in various fields before the conflict. "Syria is an independent country, and this independence scared the West. They don't want anyone to raise their head," he said.
The United States is pursuing a project of taking various countries under control, and the West in general is interested in establishing "small and helpless countries" that could be easily controlled, Akil said. "Unfortunately, this plan is being implemented step by step. This is a very dirty war against Syria," he said.
The insurgents are also supplied with weapons, and mercenaries are used to destabilize the situation in the country, the ambassador said. "Surely, there could be citizens of neighboring countries speaking the same dialect, and therefore you can't tell. But it has been proven that there are a lot of mercenaries in Syria," he said.
It was reported earlier that Kochneva had been abducted by rebels of the so-called Free Syrian Army in October 2012. The abductors demanded a $50-million ransom, but they told the woman's relatives in early 2013 that they had reduced it to $300,000.
It was announced on March 11 that she had fled from captivity and, aided by Ukrainian diplomats, arrived in Kyiv on March 17.
