A presidential administration official told Vedomosti that the released Russians arrived in Moscow on a special flight yesterday.
The Kremlin official declined to comment on the future of the intelligence agents. In the view of an FSB staff member, it will not be publicized, because officially both men are to stay in prison until the end of their lives.
The return of the convicts to Russia will be a good sign for other Russian secret service operatives, believes Alexei Makarkin, a Center for Political Technologies expert. "The authorities have shown that they do not abandon their men." Russia has indeed exerted great efforts to secure the release of its citizens from a country with which it has practically no ties and, as a result, no leverage. The secretary of the Security Council, Igor Ivanov, has twice visited Qatar for negotiations. The return of the intelligence agents certainly "cost tremendous behind-the-scene efforts both through diplomatic channels and those of the secret services," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Rossiya I Globalnaya Politika magazine.
Another newspaper, Vremya Novostei, writes that the two Russians had met their relatives upon their arrival in Moscow. The conditions in the Qatari prison were apparently not harsh - they were not beaten, were fed well and allowed to have walks and play sports.
A ranking Russian diplomat explained to the publication that the ultimate understandings were based on a "very appropriate wording" - the Qataris said they were being extradited "to serve out the punishment at home."
But Russian lawyers are inclined to think the wording may be interpreted as "administering justice" in the home country. And that means that the punishment may be changed in accordance with Russian legal norms.
Yandarbiyev died in the capital of Qatar, Doha, on February 13 in a car bombing. On June 30, a Qatari court sentenced two Russians - military intelligence agents, according to the media - to life imprisonment for killing "on order."
