‘21 days of kidnap agony’

A CYPRIOT businessman abducted in the Russian town of Krasnodar returned to Cyprus on Sunday, after he was released by police on Friday, ending a three-week ordeal.

Michalis Thucydides, who works for a subsidiary of the Cyprus Development Bank in Russia, was kidnapped by mobsters in early May and taken to a remote location in Krasnodar, southern Russia. He was rescued in a sting operation carried out by local police last Friday.

Arriving at Larnaca airport on Sunday, a clearly drained Thucydides described to waiting journalists his 21-day nightmare. He said he did not know what the abductors’ motive was, apart from the ransom money they demanded — a million dollars by some accounts.

The victim said he was not ill-treated by his captors, but was held in isolation in squalid conditions and blindfolded whenever he was moved around.

Fighting back tears, the banker said he spent “21 days of agony, that’s 505 hours, in a filthy house. Yes, there were times I feared for my life, but now I’m relieved it’s all over.”

Russian authorities are investigating the kidnapping case to determine the exact motives and the persons involved. Press reports have been unclear, saying that a Cypriot was implicated in the abduction, acting as the middleman; and other sources speak of more than one person arrested, without specifying.

Thucydides did not rule out the possibility of a Cypriot being involved, but refused to comment further.

The Development Bank, which took an active interest in Thucydides’ case from the outset, says it has been informed that the initial results of investigations should be out some time this week.

Thucydides and his brother will soon be returning to Russia to assist authorities there.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.