BackRussian hostage crisis in Costa Rica ends with surrender
Russian hostage crisis in Costa Rica ends with surrender
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San Jose: An armed man who allegedly held nine hostages inside the Russian embassy in Costa Rica for several hours on 11 May surrendered to authorities and no one was harmed in the incident, police said.
Police had surrounded the embassy upon hearing that the man had seized nine hostages inside, including the Russian ambassador.
But Ambassador Valery Nikolaenko downplayed the reports of a hostage crisis, telling Telenoticias TV in a phone call from inside the embassy before the man surrendered that the incident was a private dispute between two people, one of them armed.
Local television showed two people clad in yellow raincoats being escorted by police off the embassy grounds after four hours of confusion, and police spokesman Allan Fonseca confirmed that the situation had ended.
The drama began around 12:30 pm (1830 GMT) when a man about 20 years old entered the building with his mother saying he was going to renew his passport, according to the local media.
Local television identified the armed man as Roman Bordayan, a native of the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan who has been living in Costa Rica for a year.
According to the reports, Boradayan’s family had ended up in the country after being swindled in a land deal done over the Internet.
But Boradayan found he could not renew his passport at the Russian embassy because he was from Kyrgyzstan, reports said.
After he entered the embassy Friday, he reportedly grabbed a gun from an embassy guard and took the nine hostages, demanding 50,000 dollars to set them free, the reports said.
Nikolaenko insisted though that the incident was simply a fight between two citizens, one of whom was carrying a weapon.
“We are controlling the situation, which consists of two Russian citizens who are in a quarrel over a debt, locked in one of the rooms below the embassy," he said before the man gave himself up.
“With help from the Costa Rican police we tried to get them out in a non-violent manner," he said.
Fonseca said police had “no official motive for the hostage seizing."
Just prior to the surrender, Moscow demanded a swift end to the siege.
“We ask the Costa Rican forces of order to rapidly take the necessary measures to ensure the normalization of the situation at our embassy," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynine told local news agencies.
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