MOSCOW. Dec 27 (Interfax) - Two medical workers, citizens of Belarus, were released in Libya with assistance from Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, and the Russian Foreign Ministry and will return to their home country on Wednesday, Lev Dengov, the head of the Contact group on Libya, said.
"Two medical workers, citizens of Belarus, were released in Libya with assistance from Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, and the Russian Foreign Ministry," Dengov told reporters.
"Kadyrov worked on the issue of release on the orders of the Russian administration in coordination with the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian contact group on intra-Libyan settlement. The Belarusian citizens will travel from Moscow to Minsk," Dengov said.
Doctors Inna Babush and Sergei Zdota were detained in the Libyan city of Zintan in late October after their contract with a medical establishment expired, he said. "The Belarusian doctors had gone to Libya to work back in 2010, but after their contract expired, they were not permitted to leave the city," he said.
The pair was expected to leave Libya on November 5, Dengov said. "On October 25, the Belarusian citizens' work visas expired, but unknown armed men took their documents and isolated them in an apartment in the private sector," he said. "They could not leave the city without documents and go through checkpoints," Dengov, who took part in the negotiations on the Belarusians' release, said.
"As a result of coordinated work with the Libyan Foreign Ministry and the security service of the country's government of national accord, in coordination with the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, the Belarusian citizens were contacted, released and taken to a safe place. Officials from the government of national accord also assisted in organizing negotiations with the people holding the citizens," Dengov said.