Russian Delegation To Visit Tatar Man In Guantanamo

Guantanamo detainee Ravil Mingazov, who is from Tatarstan, in an undated photo from his period of millitary service in the Russian army

Russian Foreign Ministry officials say they will visit a Guantanamo inmate from Tatarstan next month.

The ministry's ombudsman, Konstantin Dolgov, said on December 27 that a Russian delegation will visit the detainee, Ravil Mingazov, on January 17.

Russian officials have been trying to meet Mingazov for some time, but U.S. officials have said Mingazov does not want to meet with them.

Mingazov was detained in an apartment linked to alleged terrorists in Pakistan in 2002.

In 2006, Mingazov testified to U.S. investigators that he used the apartment as a shelter for refugees and had never known any extremists.

Seven other Russian citizens from the Russian Federation’s republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Kabardino-Balkaria, as well as from Chelyabinsk and Tyumen Oblasts of Russia, have been extradited from Guantanamo to Russia in 2004.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS