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FEATURE

A True Story of International Kidnapping, Torture and Survival

It took Yvonne Bornstein, author of “Eleven Days of Hell, My True Story of Kidnapping, Terror, Torture and Historic FBI and KGB Rescue” (Authorhouse, Feb, 2005 – ISBN: 1418494070), twelve years to get past the emotional and physical trauma of her kidnapping, torture, rape and rescue to finally tell her story. In 1992, Bornstein, a wife, mother of two, and businesswoman, found herself caught up in the political disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Lured to a newly capitalist Moscow by a business proposition, Bornstein and then husband Daniel Weinstock, both Australian citizens, were kidnapped, tortured and held for $1.6 million ransom by Chechen rebels originally thought to be gypsies or members of the Russian mob. It was only in 2002 that a key player in the rescue, Russian attorney and Chechen terrorist expert Dimitry O. Afanasiev amazingly linked the kidnappers to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.

Clouding the jurisdiction of the crime was the ransom demand made to Bornstein’s New Jersey family. With three countries involved, a rescue attempt seemed impossible, particularly since the FBI and KGB had never worked together and had been Cold War enemies. Bornstein’s kidnapping and rescue eleven days later was an historical first joint operation between the FBI and KGB. The FBI chronicled the event in a press release following the rescue making front page headlines in the US and international media including The NY Times, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News and UPI.

“Eleven Days of Hell, My True Story of Kidnapping, Terror, Torture and Historic FBI and KGB Rescue” has been critically acclaimed and described as “A terrifyingly true thriller that grips you from the first page and never lets you go!” by Stuart Beattie, screenwriter of the hit movies Collateral and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. “Yvonne Bornstein has shown remarkable courage and skill by digging deep into her darkest nightmares and detailing them on the page in a way that will leave you breathless…”

Bornstein’s narrative is even more fascinating due to the individuals involved. The key players read like fictional characters in a John le Carre or Robert Ludlum novel, except Bornstein’s characters are, unfortunately very real. In 1992, Dimitry O. Afanasiev was a brilliant young Russian lawyer living in Philadelphia. His behind-the-scenes exchange of information to Russian authorities was the key link between the FBI and Russian police, leading to the rescue.

In 2004, he was recruited by Russian President Vladimir Putin to lead a team of lawyers to defend two Russian agents accused of assassinating exiled former Chechen President Zelinkhan Yandarbiyev, who had been blown up in his car in Qatar. Afanasiev’s firm of Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev and Partners had, since 1993, represented both the Russian government and private corporations in international business affairs, as well as Western companies doing business in Russia. He is also an expert in global terrorism.

Colonel Vladimir Rushailo began his career as an iron-fisted member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). When the KGB became decertified in 1991, it was divided into two subdivisions, the MVD and the Ministry of Security (MBR). Rushailo was somewhat of a glory-seeker who stopped at nothing to track down the kidnappers – he was rewarded with promotions to the highest levels of the Russian government.

In 1995 Putin appointed Rushailo minister of Internal Affairs. In 1999 he accompanied Putin to the 1999 G-8 Conference on terrorism in Moscow, meeting with, among other VIPs, then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. And in 2002 he was appointed secretary of the Security Council and National Security advisor. He is currently the Executive Secretary of the CIS and is reportedly on the list to take the place of President Putin.

When Bornstein was kidnapped, Gerry Ingrisano was an FBI Agent working in the Newark, New Jersey office. He was the first FBI agent to meet with the New Jersey family after they reported the kidnapping and ransom demand to the FBI. Gerry Ingrisano remained with the FBI’s Newark office until 1996. He then transferred to the Des Moines, Iowa office where he still remains as a special agent and supervisor.

Yvonne Bornstein is currently in negotiations for the film rights to her story. She can be contacted via her website www.yvonnebornstein.com