Czechs, Slovaks deny ransom paid for release of aid worker

Both the Czech and Slovak authorities have denied reports by the Russian newspaper Novaja Gazeta that a ransom was paid for the release in November of Miriam Jevikova, a Slovak woman who was kidnapped five months earlier while working for a Czech aid agency in Ingushetia. The internet site of the Russian paper said 4.5 million crowns (almost 200,000 US dollars) had been handed over to Ms Jevikova's kidnappers.