"Back in the 1980s, for example, Islamic terrorists in Lebanon kidnapped a Russian diplomat. The Russians (then the Soviets, a distinction without much difference in these matters) quickly found out which faction had their guy, kidnapped a relative of one of the kidnappers, and had a body part delivered to the Islamic kidnappers. The message was, release the Russian diplomat unharmed, or the KGB (Soviet secret police) would keep sending body parts, and grabbing kinfolk of the kidnappers. The Russian diplomat was released. Apparently that lesson has been forgotten, at least in some parts of Iraq"
Source here and scores of other places for anyone able to do a web search.
Just because you are too young to remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen...
Just because you are too young to remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen... And just because you are too old to realize that the last time Russian diplomats were kidnapped and killed was in 2006, it means that the tactic employed in the 1980's didn't work as well as you think.