Foreign Ministry shrugs off further Israelis detained in Moscow
The remarks came in response to news of even more Israelis being questioned, the week after 46 Israelis, including children, were kept in the airport for six hours.
By LAHAV HARKOVEmergency personel stand outside Domodedovo International Airport on February 11, 2018. A Russian passenger plane carrying 71 people crashed outside Moscow after taking off from the capital's Domodedovo airport(photo credit: MAXIM ZMEYEV/REUTERS)
Dozens of Israelis being detained at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport are part of the normal border control process, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.The remarks came in response to news of even more Israelis being questioned, the week after 46 Israelis, including children, were kept in the airport for six hours.“A number of Israeli citizens were questioned this morning by immigration authorities in Russia,” the Foreign Ministry’s response from Tuesday afternoon read. “Some entered the country after being questioned briefly, and some are still detained and the questioning is lasting longer.”The delays are “a routine process, and their length is determined according to the procedures of the host country and according to its laws,” the ministry stated.Nicholas Wegman, one of the Israelis being detained, told Channel 13 that the passengers’ passports were confiscated and some of their bags were taken away. In addition, he said that police officers constantly checked in on them.Last Thursday, the foreign ministries of Israel and Russia reached an agreement to avoid detaining each other’s citizens upon entry, except for cases in which it was necessary. Part of the agreement included a more streamlined process of communication between their respective border control authorities.When asked last week why Israelis were being detained, the Russian Embassy in Israel argued that an average of 20 Russian citizens were stopped when entering Israel every day, adding up to more than 5,700 this year.Meanwhile, Israeli-American Naama Issachar continues to serve a prison sentence of seven and a half years in Russia for possession of 9.5 grams of hashish in her luggage, found while she was on a stopover in Moscow. Her appeal to a Russian court was denied last week.Diplomatic sources say the matter is being dealt with at the highest level, via Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. One of the courses of action being considered is to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to grant Issachar a pardon before his visit to Israel next month for the World Holocaust Forum.
