| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 189.1 | This is NOT a travel tip for rejected youth | NEILS::SAVAGE | | Mon Jun 11 1990 16:23 | 59 |
| From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.hot.east_europe,
clari.news.terrorism,clari.news.europe,clari.news.aviation
Subject: Youth hijacks Soviet plane to Stockholm
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, terrorism,
aviation problems, trouble
Date: 9 Jun 90 12:50:13 GMT
Location: soviet union, sweden
ACategory: international
Slugword: hijack
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- A desponent Russian teenager with a fake
hand grenade hijacked a Soviet airliner to Sweden after he was kicked
out of his home by his parents, police said. The airliner, a
three-engine Tupolev jet of the Soviet airline Aeroflot, returned to
the Soviet Union with 135 passengers and crew aboard early Saturday,
Swedish authorities said.
Police said the aircraft had been on a domestic flight from the
Byelorussian capital Minsk to Murmansk, 1000 miles north of Moscow on
the northern Kola peninsula, when it was hijacked by the 17-year-old
Russian boy. The official Soviet news agency Tass identified the
hijacker as Dmitry Semenov and said the Soviet Union had requested that
he be turned over to Soviet authorities. There was no immediate word on
the charges he could face.
Brandishing a fake hand grenade, Semenov forced the aircraft's
pilot to change course 40 minutes into the flight from Minsk to
Murmansk by threatening to blow up the aircraft, Tass and airport
authorities at Stockholm's Arlanda international airport said.
Police said Semenov told them he hijacked the plane because he was
expelled from his home by his parents. Tass said there were 114
passengers and 7 crew members aboard the Tu-154.
"The captain Sergei Brilev decided to land in Stockholm to save the
lives of the passengers," Tass said. Swedish authorities were alerted
to the hijacking early Saturday, and gave the plane immediate
permission to land. Semenov surrendered to Swedish police an hour after
the aircraft landed. "I want to live in Sweden," the young man was
quoted as saying.
Airport authorities said Semenov was a student at a Technical
College in Minsk, 420 miles southwest of Moscow. Swedish police said
there were no immediate plans for the return of the youth to the Soviet
Union. "We have received no official request for extradition," a
spokeswoman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry said. She said that in a
similar case in 1977, Swedish authorities had tried and sentenced a
Soviet national in Sweden instead of repatriating him to stand trial in
the Soviet Union.
Tass was unclear on whether a formal request extradition had been
made, saying "the question of giving up the criminal to the Soviet side
is being decided." Semenov was in detention at Stockholm Police
Headquarters Saturday and was expected to be remanded in custody during
a preliminary court hearing Saturday.
No one was hurt in the hijacking. One unnamed woman with a weak
heart was briefly treated by Swedish doctors but continued to Murmansk
with her traveling companions Saturday.
|
| 189.2 | Another hijacking | CHARLT::SAVAGE | | Tue Jun 19 1990 10:23 | 50 |
| From: [email protected] (ENRIQUE TESSIERI)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.aviation,
clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.europe,clari.news.urgent
Subject: Soviet airliner hijacked
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, aviation problems,
trouble
Date: 19 Jun 90 10:29:57 GMT
Location: soviet union, finland
ACategory: international
Slugword: hijack
HELSINKI, Finland (UPI) -- Three men hijacked a Soviet Aeroflot
airliner with more than 50 people aboard Tuesday, forced it to land at
Helsinki international airport and surrendered to police, a government
official said. The Tupolev 134 aircraft with 54 passengers and five
crew aboard was on its way from the Latvian capital Riga to Murmansk on
the northern Soviet Kola peninsula when it was commandeered by the
three men, the National Aviation Authority said.
"The hijack is over," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tom Westergard
told United Press International. Westergard said one hijacker gave
himself up, but the other two had to be pointed out by passengers
before authorities apprehended them as well.
Details of how the hijacking transpired were not immediately known.
Nor was it known if the air pirates had been armed. Westergard said the
hijacker who surrendered had requested political asylum in Finland, but
the position of the other two alleged hijackers was unclear. "We do
not even know if we could give political asylum because of accords with
the Soviet Union and the fact that the aircraft was hijacked," said
Westergard.
The brief hijacking Tuesday was the second Soviet plane to pirated
to the Nordic region and the third of a Soviet airliner since June 8.
Two weeks ago, a 17-year-old Soviet boy hijacked a Soviet airliner with
135 passengers and crew on its way from the Byelorussian capital Minsk
to Murmansk, forcing it to land in Sweden. No one was hurt in the
incident and the young man, who said he hijacked the plane following a
conflict with his parents, remains in custody in Sweden.
Monday, a pilot hijacked a single-engine Soviet plane from Izmail
in the southwest Ukraine and flew the 12-seater Aeroflot craft to
Turkey. The pilot, Valery Yurevic, 29, who landed the plane on a Black
Sea beach in northwestern Turkey, has asked for political asylum.
The last time a Soviet airliner was hijacked to Helsinki was in
1978. Finland, which has a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual
Assistance with the Soviet Union, refused the hijackers political
asylum and returned them for trial in the Soviet Union. Unlike Sweden,
Finland has never afforded Soviet citizens political asylum.
|
| 189.3 | This is getting to be a Soviet teenage habit | CHARLT::SAVAGE | | Mon Jul 02 1990 10:44 | 48 |
| From: [email protected] (PAUL BURMAN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.europe,
clari.news.aviation,clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.terrorism,
clari.news.urgent
Subject: Soviet hijacker surrenders
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, aviation problems,
trouble, terrorism
Date: 30 Jun 90 23:20:48 GMT
Location: sweden, soviet union
ACategory: international
Slugword: hijack
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- A young Soviet man hijacked a Tuplolev
154 airliner with 159 people aboard on a domestic flight Saturday,
forced the plane to fly to Sweden and surrendered to police after
landing in Stockholm, police said. Police spokesman Lennart Pettersson
said the 19-year-old Soviet hijacker was taken to Stockholm police
headquarters for questioning. He said the Aeroflot airliner with 152
passengers and seven crew members aboard was hijacked on a flight from
Lvov in the Ukraine to Moscow late Saturday evening.
No one on the plane was injured during the hijacking, although it
appeared the hijacker may have had a hand grenade, the police spokesman
said. "We don't know yet what kind of weapon he used, but there was a
packet that was placed inside our bomb-proof equipment," Pettersson
said.
The hijacker's only demands were to surrender to the Swedish police
and to leave the plane through a specific exit, which delayed the
ending by half an hour. "He chose a door through which he wanted to
leave the plane and refused to go any other way," Pettersson said. "We
had to find a stairway that fitted to that exit."
Police initially thought it was four hijackers armed with hand
grenades, but corrected that information after the single hijacker gave
up.
The Arlanda airport, 25 miles outside Stockholm, was informed that
a hijacked plane was on its way at 9:45 p.m. and saw the plane land
half an hour later. It was brought to a special landing lane and was
surrounded by police, who made contact with the hijacker over the
airplane's radio. It was the second time in three weeks that a Soviet
plane was hijacked and forced to fly to Sweden. Two other Soviet
airliners have been hijacked to Finland in recent weeks.
The 17-year-old hijacker of the earlier incident, Dimitriy
Semyonov, risks a trial in Sweden and expulsion to the Soviet Union for
his hijacking in June.
|
| 189.4 | They're still coming | CHARLT::SAVAGE | | Fri Jul 06 1990 14:51 | 51 |
| From: [email protected] (PAL BURMAN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.hot.east_europe,
clari.news.aviation,clari.news.europe,clari.news.law.crime,clari.news.urgent
Subject: Soviet hijacker surrenders to Swedish police
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, aviation problems,
trouble, nonviolent crime, legal
Date: 5 Jul 90 23:05:28 GMT
Location: soviet union, sweden
ACategory: international
Slugword: hijack
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- A Soviet teenager Thursday forced a
Tupolev 154 airliner with 178 people aboard to fly to Stockholm, saying
he wished to avoid his country's compulsory military service. The
19-year-old, whose name was withheld by police, surrendered to Swedish
police 45 minutes after landing in Stockholm.
A man and woman, both in their 40s, were initially suspected of
being accomplices in the hijacking, but were cleared after questioning
at the airport. The hijacking during a domestic flight from Leningrad
to Lvov in the Ukraine paralleled Saturday's case when another
19-year-old draft evader seized a Tupolev flying between the same
cities to land in Stockholm.
Altogether, three Soviet hijackers have landed in Stockholm and two
in Helsinki the last month. Thursday's hijacker told the crew he had
explosives in his bag, but later admitted to the police it was a lie.
His luggage was being examined. "He said he was drafted to the Red
Army and hijacked the plane to avoid the military service," police
spokesman Henry Hedenstrom said. "The couple sitting next to him were
initially suspected, but we no longer think they had anything to do
with the hijacking," Hedenstrom said. The passengers remained
overnight in a Stockholm hotel after the ordeal.
Dimitriy Semyonov, 17, who hijacked a Soviet airliner four weeks
ago and forced it to fly to Sweden, and 19-year-old Anatoliy
Mihkaylenko, who hijacked an airplane from Leningrad to Lvov last
Saturday, are both in custody in Sweden. Both have requested asylum
in Sweden, but Swedish authorities have yet to decide it they will be
extradited to the Soviet Union.
The Swedish Pilots' Association and the Swedish Air Controllers'
Association have demanded extradition of the two Soviets as a deterrent
to further hijackings. Barbro Fischerstrom, head of the Arlanda
airport, urged the Swedish government to expel the hijackers as soon as
possible to end the upsurge in air piracy. "I would like them to set
an example quickly to stop others with similar ideas," Fischerstrom
said. "The trend is extremely worrying and the government must act
faster," she added. Adding to the problem is that Soviet crews on
domestic flights seldom speak English and thus cannot communicate with
the air controllers in Stockholm, an air controller said.
|
| 189.5 | new Cuba-syndrome? | KIPPIS::BACKSTROM | bwk,pjp;SwTools;pg2;lines23-24 | Thu Jul 12 1990 17:48 | 12 |
| The last count is 10 planes (in a little over a months time):
2 to Finland
3 to Sweden
1 to Turkey (or someplace close, I didn't quite catch the place
in tonights newscast)
4 turned back before the Soviet border
Officials expect more to come.
...petri
|
| 189.6 | One expelled | CHARLT::SAVAGE | | Thu Jul 19 1990 10:48 | 48 |
| From: [email protected] (PAL BURMAN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.hot.east_europe,
clari.news.aviation,clari.news.europe,clari.news.law.supreme
Subject: Sweden expels Soviet hijacker
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, aviation problems,
trouble, supreme court, legal
Date: 17 Jul 90 20:13:30 GMT
Location: soviet union, sweden
ACategory: international
Slugword: expel
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- A Soviet teenager who hijacked a
domestic airliner and forced it to fly to Sweden became the first
person Tuesday to be expelled from Sweden to Soviet Union in 44 years.
Dimitriy Semyonov, 17, was escorted on his flight back home back by
four Soviet police officers.
Soviet authorities had promised the Swedish government to punish
Semyonov only for the hijacking and not for leaving the Soviet Union,
which is a listed crime there. "Don't forget me. Find out which
prison or camp I'm placed in," Semyonov said before leaving Arlanda
airport outside Stockholm.
Semyonov, who said he expected to be jailed for 10 years and banned
from the major Soviet cities for another five years, hijacked an
airplane with 121 people aboard during a domestic flight June 9 and
forced it to fly to Sweden,
The expulsion was decided by the Swedish government last Thursday
after a recommendation from the Swedish Supreme Court. Acting Prime
Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallen said the government was departing from the
previous practice of not to expel anyone to the Soviet Union because of
the seriousness of the teenager's crime.
Previously, hijackers from the Soviet Union have been sentenced for
their crimes in Sweden, where they were also granted political asylum.
Semyonov seized the plane after a quarrel with his father, and his
action has been copied by four other young Soviets who hijacked
domestic airliners to Scandinavia.
Two planes between Leningrad and Lvov in the Ukraine were hijacked
five days apart this month and forced to fly to Stockholm by
19-year-old Soviet army evaders. The two are awaiting the Swedish
government's decision, as were the two hijackers held in custody in
Finland.
Sweden has not expelled anyone to the Soviet Union since January
1946.
|
| 189.7 | Another Soviet teenager sent home | CHARLT::SAVAGE | | Wed Aug 01 1990 15:35 | 44 |
| From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.europe,
clari.news.aviation,clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.law.crime,
clari.news.terrorism
Subject: Another Soviet hijacker to be returned by Sweden
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, aviation problems,
trouble, nonviolent crime, legal, terrorism
Date: 31 Jul 90 16:41:48 GMT
Location: sweden, soviet union
ACategory: international
Slugword: sweden
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- Sweden announced the repatriation
Tuesday of a Soviet teenager who hijacked a Sovier airliner and forced
it to fly to Sweden, despite his plea for political asylum.
"Sweden will not become a haven for hijackers," said acting Justice
Minister Mona Sahlin after the decision to expel Anatoly Mikhailenko,
19, was reached. "These serious crimes must according to international
laws be punished in the land of origin, if we can receive guarantees
that they won't be punished for other reasons too," Sahlin said.
Sahlin said Soviet authorities had promised to sentence the teenager
only for the hijacking. The repatriation was the second such expulsion
in July.
Mikhailenko's Swedish lawyer, Richard Schonmeyr, said his client
"regarded the government decision as a death penalty". The young
Ukrainian, he added, was expected to receive a five to 15 year jail
sentence for the hijacking,possibly in combination with another
five-year expulsion from major Soviet cities.
Mikhailenko, who hijacked a domestic Tupolev 154 with 159 people
aboard on June 30 and forced it to land in Sweden, sought political
asylum, saying that as a national of the Ukraine he did not want to
fulfill a recent draft order to serve in the Soviet Armed Forces.
Dmitri Semyonov, 17, started a spate of hijackings to Scandinavia
on June 9 by seizing an airliner with 120 people aboard. Semyonov was
expelled from Sweden on July 12. Another 19-year-old Ukrainian is
still awaiting the Swedish government's decision after he hijacked a
domestic airliner July 5. Semyonov's expulsion was the first from
Sweden to the Soviet Union since 1946 when 167 Balts, who allegedly had
fought alongside Nazi Germany against the Soviet Red Army, were handed
over to Moscow.
|
| 189.8 | Suicide attempt | CHARLT::SAVAGE | | Thu Aug 02 1990 12:16 | 50 |
| From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.news.law.crime.trial,clari.news.europe,
clari.news.law.supreme,clari.news.aviation
Subject: Soviet hijacker attempts suicide in Sweden
Keywords: international, criminal proceedings, legal, supreme court,
aviation problems, trouble
Date: 1 Aug 90 17:30:19 GMT
Location: sweden
ACategory: international
Slugword: hijacker
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- An 18-year-old Ukrainian, jailed in
Sweden for hijacking a Soviet domestic airliner last month, won
postponement of his Supreme Court extradition hearing Wednesday after
slashing his wrists in an apparent suicide attempt, authorities said.
Mikhail Mokretsov commandeered a Soviet domestic aircraft with 178
people on board July 5 and forced it to land in Sweden. After
surrendering to police, he requested political asylum saying he wanted
to avoid Soviet military service.
Sweden's Supreme Court was to have heard Mokretsov's case Wednesday
with a view of repatriating him to face trial in the Soviet Union. A
Supreme Court spokesman said, however, that Mokretsov's case had been
postponed until the 19-year-old had undergone extensive medical tests.
Reports on how Mokretsov had been able to cut his wrists while in
the maximum security Kronoberg prison in central Stockholm remained
confused Wednesday. Some claimed he used a toothpaste tube and a light
bulb, while others said glass from a broken thermos flask had been
used.
Prison wardens at Kronoberg Prison refused to discuss the case,
saying only that Mokretsov had inflicted wounds on his wrists and had
been treated by a prison nurse.
The incident came a day after the Swedish government decided to
send another Ukrainian teenage hijacker -- who also claimed to have
seized a plane to avoid military service -- back to the Soviet Union.
Anatoly Mikhailenko, 19, hijacked an airliner June 30 and forced it to
fly to Stockholm.
Dmitri Semyonov, 17, who started the spate of hijackings to
Scandinavia June 9 by seizing an airliner with 120 people aboard, was
expelled from Sweden to the Soviet Union July 12 in the first such
repatriation from Sweden to the Soviet Union since 1946.
In neighboring Finland, the government there has decided to deport
a fourth Soviet hijacker to face trial in the Soviet Union, while it is
still considering the case of a fifth hijacker.
|
| 189.9 | This try failed | NEILS::SAVAGE | | Mon Oct 08 1990 17:30 | 30 |
| From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.news.aviation,clari.news.terrorism,
clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.europe,clari.news.law.crime.violent
Subject: Soviets foil hijack attempt
Keywords: international, aviation problems, trouble, terrorism,
non-usa government, government, violent crime, legal
Date: 7 Oct 90 23:14:36 GMT
Location: soviet union, finland
ACategory: international
Slugword: soviet-hijack
MOSCOW (UPI) -- Crew members and passengers Sunday disarmed a man
who tried to hijack a Soviet plane to Stockholm, and the aircraft
landed safely at the White Sea port city of Arkhangelsk. An unemployed
26-year-old man, identified only by his last name of Gavrilov,
threatened to blow up the Aeroflot AN-24 jetliner en route to
Arkhangelsk from the Ural Mountains city of Perm, where he lived, the
official Tass news agency said.
"The crew decided to take the risk and with the help of passengers
disarmed the hijacker," Tass said. "No bomb was found on him.
Authorities are investigating the incident."
The news agency did not say what kind of weapon was in Gavrilov's
possession when he was disarmed. The incident was the most recent in a
spate of hijackings or attempted acts of air piracy conducted by
Soviets trying to leave their country this year. Most of the
successful hijackers have commandeered planes to Stockholm or Helsinki,
and the Swedish and Finnish government have extradited some of the air
pirates back to the Soviet Union.
|
| 189.10 | fwiw: another try that ended in Helsinki about a week ago | KIPPIS::BACKSTROM | bwk,pjp;SwTools;pg2;lines23-24 | Tue Oct 16 1990 18:21 | 0 |
| 189.11 | Could become a steady stream | NEILS::SAVAGE | | Mon Oct 22 1990 13:26 | 101 |
| From: [email protected] (JULIAN M. ISHERWOOD)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.europe,
clari.news.issues,clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.group.jews,clari.news.issues.civil_rights,clari.news.top.world
Subject: Nordic governments prepare for Soviet refugee wave
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, refugees,
social issues, jews, special interest, civil rights
Date: 21 Oct 90 17:32:03 GMT
Location: denmark, soviet union
ACategory: international
Slugword: nordic-soviet
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (UPI) -- Governments in the Nordic region are
preparing for a steady stream of refugees and immigrants as Soviet
emigration restrictions loosen and the iron centralism of the Union
disintegrates. Finnish authorities said they have increased patrols on
the Soviet border after Soviet authorities informed them privately that
as many as 20 million Soviets may seek to leave the country when travel
restrictions are dropped.
Governments in Sweden and Norway have also prepared contingency
plans to receive thousands of Soviet nationals, while Denmark says the
number of Soviets seeking asylum in the country has swelled and the
country is preparing for a major influx.
Finland's special relationship with Moscow and the fact that travel
from the Soviet Union to Finland is relatively cheap for Soviet
citizens, makes the country the likely initial stopoff point for
emigrating Soviets. "The Labor authorities in Moscow are speaking of up
to 20 million people (wanting to leave the Soviet Union) in the next
few years," said Finnish Labor Ministry consultant Risto Laakonen.
"But nobody really knows how many people we are talking about," he
added.
In 1990 alone, Finland expects to give 200,000 tourist visas to
Soviets from the adjacent Leningrad and Kola peninsula regions, a 25
percent increase on previous years.
In recent years, the Soviet Union has increased the number of exit
visas given to Soviet nationals who wish to visit abroad, provided they
have an invitation and their travel does not drain the hard currency
reserves of the Union. Soviet Jews and Armenians have been primary
beneficiaries of the relaxation, which has allowed hundreds of
thousands to travel.
Apart from increased border patrols, Finland hopes to stem the
number of Soviet visitors and prospective asylum seekers by maintaining
visa requirements and keeping staff at Finland's consulates in
Leningrad and Tallinn at present levels. "An important criterion for
giving a visa will be that the people in question are able to support
themselves in Finland," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Irma Ertman.
Finland is one of the most expensive countries in the region.
"Our personnel resources will also limit the number of visas," Ertman
said.
In Denmark, the number of Soviet asylum seekers has jumped from
eight in 1989 to more than 90 already in 1990. "At present we can
refuse asylum to people if they come simply because there are more
goods in Danish shops than in Moscow," said Peter Sterup, a justice
spokesman for the ruling Conservative Party. "But if the Soviet Union
relaxes its exit policy, and if (Soviet) regional conflicts erupt
again, we will have difficulty in arguing that asylum seekers are not
facing persecution," he added.
This in particular since refugees from conflicts such as that
recently between the Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
fulfill United Nations prerequisites for asylum eligibility on grounds
of political, ethnic or religious persecution.
Denmark's Foreigner Directorate said decisions on whether to give
asylum had become more and more difficult. "The increased number of
Soviet asylum seekers has come as it has become easier for Soviets to
leave their country, and this in itself has made it more difficult to
evaluate their cases," said Directorate Chief Svend Bjerg Hansen.
"Previously any Soviet coming here would almost automatically receive a
residence permit -- that is not the case now," he added.
It remains unclear when the Soviet Union will remove all travel
restrictions for its nationals seeking to leave the country for shorter
or longer periods. The United States has required such a move before
Moscow is granted trade status as a "most favored nation," and more
importantly if the Soviet Union is to be given U.S. trade credit
guarantees.
Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov said prior to the fall
session of the Soviet Parliament that the emigration bill would be
passed before the end of the session in December. But the bill,
originally scheduled for consideration during the spring session, has
not yet been put forward as part of the specific agenda.
This month Soviet authorities said the total number of people
emigrating this year is expected to be around 500,000 with even more
expected to leave once the emigration bill passes. "In the next ten
years, up to 7 million people may leave, among them hundreds of
thousands of specialists, " said Vladimir Petrov, head of the Communist
Party Ideology Section at a recent discussion on the potential Soviet
brain-drain.
The Soviet State Committee on Education, and the emigration
authorities have projected that 1.5 million of the most qualified of
the country's 15 million scientists and technical specialists could
leave the country over the next decade.
|
| 189.12 | One more. I wonder what the count is now? | KIPPIS::BACKSTROM | bwk,pjp;SwTools;pg2;lines23-24 | Thu Nov 15 1990 04:31 | 3 |
| And one more plane forced to Helsinki this morning.
...petri
|
| 189.13 | Re: .12: the count, as of mid November 1990 | TLE::SAVAGE | | Thu Nov 15 1990 14:51 | 35 |
| From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.news.aviation,clari.news.gov.international,
clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.terrorism,clari.news.europe
Subject: Soviet plane hijacked to Finland
Date: 15 Nov 90 09:31:03 GMT
HELSINKI, Finland (UPI) -- A Soviet hijacker gave himself up to
Finnish police Thursday after forcing a civilian domestic Soviet
airliner with 72 people on board to land at Helsinki's Vantaa airport,
police said. Police said the 31-year-old man had threatened to blow up
the Tupolev aircraft during a flight from Moscow to Leningrad early
Thursday unless the captain diverted the aircraft to Sweden.
Police who searched the aircraft at Helsinki, where the plane
landed instead, said they found no explosives. All 66 passengers and
six crew aboard the aircraft, which included two American citizens, a
Canadian and a Briton, were reported safe and were expected to continue
their disrupted journey to Leningrad later in the day. Neither the
names of the passengers and crew, nor the hijacker were released.
Police said the hijacker had given himself up to police immediately
upon landing in Helsinki and had asked for asylum. The reason for
Thursday's hijacking remained unclear.
Thursday's hijacking was the fourth to Helsinki of a Soviet
domestic airliner this year. Two of the hijackers have been returned to
the Soviet Union to face trial, while a third awaits the decision of
the Finnish courts on a Soviet extradition request.
Two other hijackings have taken place to Sweden this year. One of
those who hijacked a plane to Sweden has been returned to the Soviet
Union, the other was deemed unfit to serve a sentence in a Soviet jail
and is serving a sentence in Sweden. He will be extradited to
the Soviet Union after serving that sentence.
|
| 189.14 | They're still coming | TLE::SAVAGE | | Mon Mar 01 1993 09:55 | 96 |
| From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.terrorism,
clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.hot.ussr,
clari.news.law.crime.violent,clari.news.europe
Subject: Russia asks Sweden to hand over hijacker and his wife
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 3:42:51 PST
MOSCOW (UPI) -- Russia has asked the Swedish authorities to hand over
the man who hijacked an Aeroflot jetliner to Stockholm last week,
warning that if he is not extradited others might be encouraged to
follow his example.
Moscow's formal request to extradite accused hijacker Tamerlane
Musayev and his wife, who allegedly conspired with him, was contained in
a diplomatic note sent to the Swedish authorities, according to the
Interfax news agency.
Musayev allegedly used a pair of hand grenades to hijack a twin-
engine Tupolev 134 airliner that was on its way from the Siberian city
of Tyumen to St. Petersburg Feb. 20. He demanded to be flown to Finland
and then on to the United States.
After a refueling stop in Estonia the plane flew to Stockholm with 44
passengers and crew, where the man -- who was accompanied by his wife and
infant child -- gave himself up to police.
Although there is no extradition treaty between Sweden and Russia,
Moscow is basing its request on international conventions on the
prevention of hijacking and hostage-taking. Interfax quoted a Russian
diplomat saying Moscow considers the hijacking ``a serious crime which
should not go unpunished.''
``We hope that the Swedes will act in accordance with the principles
of legality and humanity,'' said the diplomat.
The note contained Moscow's assurances that ``the Russian court will
provide a fair and dispassionate hearing of this case'' and thanked
Sweden for returning the plane, passengers and crew.
``Not handing over the hijacker could provoke new crimes of this
type,'' the diplomat said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [email protected] (GREGORY GRANSDEN)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.terrorism,
clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.hot.ussr,
clari.news.law.crime.violent,clari.news.europe,clari.news.top.world
Subject: Accused hijacker was afraid of being sent to war in Azerbaijan
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 93 6:48:40 PST
MOSCOW (UPI) -- The man accused of hijacking a Russian airliner to
Sweden last week said his main motive was to avoid being drafted into
the army in his native Azerbaijan and sent to fight in the war with
Armenia, the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda said Saturday.
Tamaz Musayev, who a week ago used a pair of hand grenades to seize
control of an Aeroflot Tupolev 134 flying from the Siberian city of
Tyumen to St. Petersburg, said he hijacked the aircraft with 82
passengers on board because he could not afford a ticket to his final
destination -- the United States.
``Tamaz knew how well people live in the United States and he was
certain that (the U.S. authorities) would take in his family,'' the
newspaper said. ``However, he could not go there as a passenger, rather
than as a hijacker, because a ticket to the United States would cost up
to 100 times his monthly salary.''
Komsomolskaya Pravda published an interview with the accused man,
remarking that the young hijacker showed a mixture of striking naivete
and cold-blooded cunning in his account of the incident.
The 27-year-old Musayev, who was with his wife and infant daughter
when he hijacked the aircraft, is a citizen of the former Soviet
republic of Azerbaijan, where an undeclared war with neighboring Armenia
has been raging for five years over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh
territory.
Musayev said he believed the war, in which he would likely be drafted
to fight if he returned home, ias ``unjust'' and asserted that he still
considers himself ``a citizen of the Soviet Union.''
He said he obtained the hand grenades from a friend who deserted from
the military and who helped him plan the hijacking but backed out at the
last minute.
Musayev chose hand grenades on purpose because they were ``insurance''
against being shot by police snipers. He had removed the pin on one of
the grenades, ensuring that if he were shot his grip would loosen and
the grenade would explode.
At Tyumen airport, a $50 bribe to Aeroflot ground staff got him, his
wife and child onto the aircraft without their baggage going through
security check -- which usually involves X-raying bags.
Swedish authorities concluded that his wife, Marina, was also
involved in staging the hijacking because during talks with negotiators
at Stockholm airport Musayev consulted her every time the police made a
proposal.
Musayev commented that his jail cell in Sweden -- equipped with a
television and radio -- was much more comfortable than the Tyumen hotel
room where he had been living before the hijacking and where his wife
caught a bad cold.
While Moscow has formally asked Sweden to hand over the hijacker for
punishment in Russia, Musayev appears not to understand the seriousness
of his position, the newspaper noted.
Swedish public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of granting
Russia's extradition request because Musayev is not perceived as someone
fleeing from Soviet totalitarianism -- rather, he is seen as an
opportunist who put dozens of people's lives in danger.
Musayev isn't worried about the possible consequences of his actions
because he said was sure he wouldn't end up ``in the electric chair,''
the daily said.
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