Russia Releases Most Israelis Who Were Detained at Airport
Russia Detained Some 40 Israelis in Moscow Airport, Embassy Said
(Bloomberg) -- Russia has released all but one traveler from Israel after about 40 passengers were detained upon arrival in Moscow, the Israeli embassy in Moscow said Wednesday.
The embassy hopes the last traveler will soon be released, the mission’s spokesman, Yossi Zilberman, said by phone.
The travelers were held for about four hours at passport control in Moscow’s Domodedovo airport after arriving on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv. They were allowed to enter Russia, with one person still waiting for approval to cross the border as of 8 p.m. Moscow time, he said.
Officials at Russia’s Foreign Ministry and border service didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it was investigating the issue, adding that both countries had a shared interest in encouraging tourism and trade.
The Russian embassy in Israel said in a tweet on Wednesday that 5,771 Russian tourists had been refused entry to Israel in 2019 as of Dec. 1, including 569 in November.
--With assistance from Alisa Odenheimer.
To contact the reporters on this story: Stepan Kravchenko in Moscow at skravchenko@bloomberg.net;Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin, Torrey Clark
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