Russian prosecutors have asked their U.S. counterparts for legal assistance to prepare a criminal case against three Russian citizens held by U.S. authorities at Guantanamo Bay. The three Russians are among the hundreds of alleged al-Qaida and Taliban fighters now being held at the U.S. naval base. In March, four Russian investigators traveled to the Cuban base to question the three Russian citizens. Igor Tkachev, an investigator with the Russian Prosecutor-General\'s office, told Izvestia newspaper last month that the three Russians admitted they had been members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU. The IMU has been labeled a terrorist group by Washington and has worked closely with Osama bin Laden\'s al-Qaida network. The three Russians were identified in media reports as Rasul Kudayev, from Kabardino-Balkariya, a region in the North Caucasus near Chechnya, Ravil Gumarov of Tatarstan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia, and Shamil Khadzhiyev of Bashkortostan in the Ural Mountains. The U.S. military says some of the captives may be returned to their home countries for prosecution while others may go before a U.S. military tribunal. Russian authorities have said they are preparing criminal cases against the three Russians and would like to extradite them. (AP)