Putin thanks Qatar Emir for return of Russian spies

President Vladimir Putin spoke with Qatar's leader on Friday, thanking him for the return of two Russian intelligence agents convicted in Qatar of assassinating a Chechen rebel leader.

The Kremlin press service yesterday said Putin expressed gratitude to Qatar Emir His Highness Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani for helping resolve the issue of the two agents, who were sentenced to life in prison for assassinating Salim-khan Yandarbiyev in February.

Putin and Al Thani both expressed their desire for "friendly Russian-Qatari relations ... primarily in the interests of stability and peaceful development in the Middle East and in the Gulf region," the press service said.

The jailing of the Russian agents strained relations between Russia and the Gulf state, a close US ally. Russian Security Council head Igor Ivanov had travelled to Qatar several times, ostensibly seeking the agents' release.

Yandarbiyev, a rebel leader and former Chechen president, was killed in an explosion while driving from a mosque in Doha on February 13 The Qatari court said the killing was carried out with the backing of "Russian leadership" and co-ordinated between Moscow and the Russian Embassy in Qatar.

The Russian agents, who have not been officially identified, pleaded not guilty.

Russia denied involvement in Yandarbiyev's killing, saying the defendants were gathering intelligence about terrorism. On Thursday, the two agents arrived back in Moscow on a government-chartered flight. Qatari news reports said the two agents would serve out their life sentence in Russia.

But the ITAR-Tass news agency, citing what it called an informed source, reported that a Russian court would decide the agents fate according to Russian law - leaving open the possibility that the two could serve no time in prison in Russia.