Commenting on a video tape of Russian hostages, which was broadcast on Sunday, Mr. Lavrov said it meant that they were alive. “We believe this information is reliable enough,” he added.

“We are contacting all those who can have links to the kidnappers. Contacts are being made with coalition forces, Iraq’s Governing Council, political and religious organizations of Iraq,” he added.

Al-Jazeera, an Arab news network, broadcast a videotape of the two Russian hostages and read a statement that demanded foreign troops withdraw from the country. The hostages were sitting in a room and talking to other people who were not shown. The statement, from a group calling itself the Army of Al-Ta'ifah al-Mansurah (the victorious sect), said it had kidnapped the Russians and demanded that foreign countries withdraw their troops from Iraq. Al-Jazeera did not say how it had received the video, the Associated Press reported.