A missing Russian pilot who was taken prisoner in Sudan was freed on Thursday and handed over to the United Nations mission in Darfur, Reuters cited Russian diplomats and U.N. peacekeepers as saying. "The helicopter's crew commander, who disappeared in Sudan on July 26 and was taken prisoner, has been freed and is now at the U.N. mission," Interfax news agency quoted Mikhail Margelov, the Russian president's special envoy to Sudan, as saying. He said Sudan's "irregular paramilitaries" were behind the kidnapping. "Our position is simple -- none of the warring sides in Sudan has the right to use Russian pilots as a bargaining chip. We have voiced this in a tough and clear way to all those following the situation in Sudan," he said. A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Khartoum said the pilot was in satisfactory condition. A U.N. peacekeeping official confirmed to Reuters that the pilot had been freed.
