Kidnapped Son Of Russia Oil Executive Freed

Mikhail Stavsky

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- The kidnapped son of a senior executive at Russian state oil giant Rosneft has been freed, prosecutors said.

The 19-year-old son of Rosneft Vice President Mikhail Stavsky was kidnapped in April and local media said a $70 million ransom had been demanded.

"The son of a Rosneft vice president who was kidnapped in April near the building of the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas was freed this morning," a spokeswoman for the Moscow city's prosecutor's main investigation unit said.

The spokeswoman gave no details on whether a ransom had been paid in one of the highest profile Russian kidnappings in recent years.

Sergei Kukura, the chief financial officer of Russia's No. 2 oil firm LUKoil, was kidnapped in 2002. He was released several days later, but the company and security services gave few details about the abductors and their motives.