Peter-Arjan Erkel (born 9 March 1970 in Prins Alexander, Rotterdam) is a Dutch former medical aid worker who was head of the relief mission for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Dagestan, a constituent republic of Russia.
His main task was caring for refugees fleeing from fighting in neighboring Chechnya.
The insurgency phase of the Second Chechen War was still ongoing at the time, and Erkel writes in his own biography that he was guarded by "heavily armed muslim rebels", with whom he managed to have limited conversations during his abduction.
Originally, the Dutch government claimed that Erkel was rescued in a special operation conducted jointly by the Russian (Federal Security Service) FSB and local Dagestani police and that Arjan was slightly hurt in the storming of the hideout.
The government eventually admitted that that was a lie and that they paid a 1 million euro ransom to free Erkel, but claimed that it didn't pay the ransom itself but on behalf of the organisation, claiming it was a loan that MSF had orally promised to pay back.