From the Liveblog of
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Iraqi FM says Israeli-Russian held hostage in country is alive, PM trying to free her
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Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is being held hostage by an Iraqi militia, is alive, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein tells Axios reporter Barak Ravid.
Hussein says the Iraqi prime minister is working on her release.
Tsurkov, a 38-year-old student at Princeton University, disappeared in Baghdad in March 2023 while doing research for her doctorate. She had entered the country on her Russian passport. The only sign she was alive was a video broadcast in November 2023 on an Iraqi television station and circulated on pro-Iranian social media purporting to show her.
Ravid says Israeli hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch recently met with the president of the International Red Cross and asked that representatives work to facilitate a visit to Tsurkov and assess her medical condition.
The Times of Israel Community.