Russia releases Qatari nationals

Russia had been seeking Yanderbiyev's extradition

Two Qatari men arrested in Russia amid a diplomatic dispute have been freed and allowed to leave the country.

The wrestlers were arrested in a Moscow airport last month after Qatar charged two Russian spies with the murder of a former rebel Chechen leader.

Meanwhile, Qatar has evicted a Russian diplomat who had been held on suspicion of involvement in the killing.

Both moves followed a phone call on Tuesday night between the Russian president and Qatari ruler.

Correspondents say relations between Russia and Qatar deteriorated sharply after the Russian agents were arrested over the car bomb death of Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev in Qatar in February.

'Undesirable'

Moscow has denied the two intelligence agents were involved in Yanderbiyev's death and has demanded they be freed.

Four Russian lawyers left for Qatar on Tuesday to provide legal assistance to the agents.

A Kremlin statement said Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Qatari leader, Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the Middle East on Tuesday night. It did not mention the arrests of the Russian agents.

On Wednesday, the Qatari Embassy in Moscow said the two wrestlers had been freed - and had left Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency quoted its ambassador to Doha as saying the Russian diplomat who had initially been detained over Yanderbiyev's killing - but then freed - also left for Moscow.

"(Russia's) first secretary Alexander Vitiso was not desired and had 24 hours to leave the country," a Qatari Foreign Ministry official told official Qatar News Agency (QNA).

Rebel leader

Yanderbiyev was president from 1996 to 1997 of the breakaway republic of Chechnya, where insurgents have been fighting for independence from Moscow for nearly a decade.

Russia accused Qatar of aiding terrorism by allowing Yanderbiyev to live in the country for the past three years.

Moscow blamed Yanderbiyev for the deaths of hundreds of Russians and had asked Qatar to extradite him on charges of terrorism and links to the al-Qaeda network.