Despite reported agreement, Israeli tourists said held again at Moscow airport

A group of visiting Israeli tourists were held at a Moscow airport on Friday despite the Foreign Ministry saying the day before it had resolved a spat with Russian authorities that has seen dozens Israelis recently being denied entry to Russia.

The tourists were stopped at passport control after arriving on an El Al flight to Domodedovo Airport, Channel 12 television news reported.

The passengers’ passports were taken away and they were questioned by security for over two hours, according to the report.

Most of the Israelis were then allowed to continue their journey although some were still being held early afternoon Friday, the report said, without specifying how many people were involved in the incident.

A consular meeting Thursday with Russian officials in Jerusalem was held in “good spirits,” the Foreign Ministry said after the talks.

“Both sides agreed to do everything so as not to harm the movement of tourists and business ties between the countries and decided on a number of steps to help enforce the bilateral visa-free agreement,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry did not detail what steps will be taken, but said Russia agreed to upgrade its “consular interface” vis-à-vis Israel.

The ministry said that the sides spoke about “Israelis being prevented entry in Moscow and the issue of illegal workers and asylum seekers entering Israel from Russia,” without detailing any solution beyond Russia confirming that Israelis entering for business talks would be handled under rules published by the Russian embassy in Israel.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Russia detained dozens of Israeli tourists and businesspeople at a Moscow airport for hours. According to Hebrew media reports, the passports of the Israelis were confiscated and no reason for their detention was given. Some passengers were interrogated in Russian with no translation offered.

The move was designed to send a “message” to Jerusalem ahead of the arrival of the delegation in Israel to discuss the Kremlin’s frustration over the annual barring of thousands of its citizens from entering the Jewish state, Hebrew media reported on Wednesday night, citing diplomatic sources.

There was no immediate word from Russia on the meeting.

Thursday’s statement about the consular meeting also said that Israel expressed hope that Israeli-American Naama Issachar, jailed in Russia on minor drug charges, would be released from prison soon, and that relatives and Israeli representatives will be allowed to visit her in prison more often. It did not detail any Russian response.

Issachar, who has been held in Russia since April, was arrested after a small quantity of marijuana, some nine grams, was found in her luggage during a layover in Moscow.

She was sentenced to over seven years in prison in the country for the minor offense.

Her appeal Thursday was rejected out of hand, meaning her years-long punishment will be upheld.