August 09, 2007	Thursday	Rajab 24, 1428

MOSCOW: Six Russians working for the Russian aluminium company Rusal have been freed more than two months after they were kidnapped in Nigeria's oil-rich south, the company said Wednesday.

Officials from Rusal and the Russian government told Interfax news agency that no ransom had been paid.

“The liberation of these hostages is the fruit of the joint efforts of Rusal, the Russian authorities and the Nigerian security forces,” the company said in a statement.

A presidential envoy on counter-terrorism, Anatoly Safonov, said that “there was no question of a ransom.

“The group involved in the abduction of the Russian nationals is known in Nigeria.... The conditions for the liberation of our citizens were linked to political and judicial questions,” he said, without elaborating.

The six Russians were kidnapped on June 3 from an expatriates' compound at Ikot Abasi in the southeast of Nigeria.

Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer, acquired 77 per cent of the Nigerian company Alscon in February.—AFP