MOSCOW, Feb 7 (AFP) - Russia said Monday it would try to help Italy win the release of its reporter, kidnapped in Baghdad, during talks with visiting Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini.
But Fini himself made no mention of a possible Italian troop withdrawal from Iraq, which was the main demand for the release of Giuliana Sgrena, an Il Manifesto reporter who was abducted Friday in broad daylight near Baghdad University.
"President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have assured me that they will do all they can to assure the freedom" of Sgrena, Fini said after talks with his Russian counterpart.
He was vague about how Russia, an ally of Iraq in the Cold War era, could help with the reporter's release, suggesting only that Moscow would use its diplomatic and other contacts.
"This assistance can come in many forms, but they have not been fully worked out," Fini said.
"We are talking about letting the Arab-Muslim world, and Iraqis, know that the kidnapped journalist is a friend of the Iraqi people. This also includes an exchange of information among the relevant governmental agencies," Fini said.
An Islamist group, which has threatened to kill the reporter by late Monday, said her fate would be decided "in the imminent future."
02/07/2005 18:55 GMT - AFP