An Israeli-Russian academic who went missing for months in Iraq is alive and being held in the country by an Iraqi Shia militia group, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday.
Elizabeth Tsurkov was captured by Kata’ib Hezbollah in March, the office said. She holds Israeli and Russian passports and entered Iraq using her Russian passport, according to the Israeli government.
The statement said she had gone to Iraq to do academic research on behalf of Princeton University, New Jersey. There was no information about her condition.
“Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we see Iraq as responsible for her fate and wellbeing,” the statement said, adding that the situation was being handled by the relevant bodies in Israel.
