An armed man who allegedly held nine hostages inside the Russian embassy in Costa Rica for several hours on Friday 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.
`private dispute'
But Russian Ambassador Valery Nikolaenko downplayed the reports of a hostage crisis, telling Telenoticias TV in a telephone call from inside the embassy before the man surrendered that the incident was a private dispute between two people, one of them armed.
Local TV 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 started around 12:30pm when a man about 20 years old entered the building with his mother saying he was going to renew his passport, local media said.
Local TV 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.
Local reports said that Boradayan's family had ended up in the country after being swindled in a land deal done over the Internet.
passport renewal
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 on Friday, he reportedly grabbed a gun from an embassy guard and took the nine hostages, demanding a ransom of US$50,000 to set them free, the reports said.
Nikolaenko insisted, however, that the incident was nothing more than 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.
`no official motive'
Fonseca said police had "no official motive for the hostage seizing."
Just prior to the hostage-taker's surrender, Moscow demanded that the siege be brought to a swift resolution.
"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.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
MIGRATION: The Supreme Court justices said they were not deciding whether Trump could legally use the Alien Enemies Act to deport undocumented migrants US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the US Supreme Court after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying the justices are “not allowing me to do what I was elected to do.” Trump’s berating of the high court, in a post on Truth Social, came after it dealt another setback to his attempt to swiftly expel alleged Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang members using an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Trump has been at loggerheads with the judiciary ever since he returned to the White House, venting
RSS