Moscow - Russia has warned the unrecognised state of Chechnya that it will close its airspace and blockade the railway line that runs through the small republic unless one of its generals who was kidnapped on Friday is released.
The Russian interior minister, Mr Sergei Stepashin, also threatened military strikes against "criminal formations" on Chechen territory unless his envoy, Mr Gennady Shpigun, was handed back "shortly".