Freed Dutch MSF worker arrives in Moscow

(11 Apr 2004) 1. Crowd in front of the Netherlands Embassy, Moscow 2. Media 3. Wide shot of Arjan Erkel, released head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Mission in Dagestan, Zoom in to beard 4. Erkel 5. People outside the building of Netherlands Embassy 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Arjan Erkel, Head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Mission in Dagestan: “Thank you for coming here. I want to take this opportunity to thank MSF for getting me out of this nightmare.“ 7. Media 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Arjan Erkel, Head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Mission in Dagestan: “Maybe it’’s interesting to know how I feel. I feel fantastic. If I was in Rotterdam right now, I’’d kiss the floor. But here, I’’m not home yet, tonight. I’’ll be at home. I want to thank the veterans for getting me out of this big, big trouble.“ 9. Erkel embracing a FSB veteran 10. SOUNDBITE: (Dutch) Arjan Erkel, Head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Mission in Dagestan addressing the crowd in Dutch: “In Dutch, Boys, this is fantastic, I feel good, what more can I say, again thanks, I have lost a few hairs here (taps head) but gained a few here (taps beard).“ 11. Cutaway reporters 12. Erkel speaking 13. Erkel embracing a veteran 14. Erkel waving to the crowd and entering through a door. STORYLINE: A Dutch employee from the international humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres, who was kidnapped in Russia 20 months ago, was freed on Sunday. Arjan Erkel was freed early on Sunday during an operation conducted by police in the southern Russian province of Dagestan, said Abdul Musayev, a spokesman for the local branch of Russia’’s Interior Ministry. He was brought to Dagestan’’s provincial capital, Makhachkala, and flown to Moscow later in the day. “I feel fantastic. If I was in Rotterdam right now, I’’d kiss the floor,“ said Erkel. MSF’’s Moscow spokesman Mark Walsh earlier told The Associated Press that the group had received a telephone call on Sunday from an association of veterans of Russia’’s foreign intelligence announcing that Erkel had been freed. Valentin Velichko of the intelligence veterans’’ association told reporters that no ransom had been paid and declined to give further details, saying he wanted to protect other hostages in Russia. Velichko said that Erkel had been held in five or six different places in Dagestan, including spending some time in a cellar. Musayev also declined to give details of the operation, which he said was conducted by police together with the local branch of Russia’’s Federal Security Agency (FSB), the KGB’’s main successor. Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Bart Jochems thanked the Russian government, other governments and international organisations for their actions that led to Erkel’’s release. Erkel, who headed the North Caucasus mission of the organization also known as Doctors Without Borders, was snatched in August 2002 by three unidentified gunmen in the Dagestan region bordering Chechnya, where rebels and Russian troops have been fighting since 1999. Erkel was the second MSF employee to be taken captive in southern Russia - in January 2001, US citizen Kenneth Gluck was held in Chechnya for 25 days. Two Chechens were sentenced yo 9 1/2 to 10 years in the abduction. Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: