Russian authorities detained a senior Israeli official before he could leave Moscow's international airport and interrogated him for an extended period, Israeli Channel 12 reported on Tuesday. According to the channel, the diplomatic incident occurred last Wednesday when Alon Shoham, the director-general of the Israeli National Agency (Nativ), was stopped while returning to Israel after attending a series of meetings in Russia.
"Nativ" is a special unit in the Israeli government responsible for maintaining relations with Jews and their families, especially for immigration purposes from countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, such as Russia and Ukraine. Shoham was detained at the airport after a series of official meetings in his capacity as director-general of Nativ, following the inspection of his diplomatic passport and the discovery of stamps from Ukraine, according to the report from Channel 12.
Upon seeing the stamps, the authorities took the Israeli official aside for an in-depth interrogation regarding his visits to Ukraine, where Shoham reiterated his official duties as Nativ's director-general, as reported by the Israeli site "i24."
It was reportedly not just a simple incident, as the departing El Al flight was summoned back to the airport after it had already taken off and separated from the jet bridge for further questioning. However, the incident was later described as a "misunderstanding."
Upon the return of the aircraft, Channel 12 reported that Shoham was asked to return for questioning, only to be told that there was no need for further questions, and it was merely a "misunderstanding."
It is noteworthy that relations between Russia and Israel have become strained recently following the war in Gaza, with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcing earlier this month that it would summon Israeli Ambassador Simona Halperin due to "unacceptable remarks" she made in an interview, according to the TASS news agency. Halperin criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the interview for downplaying the significance of the Nazi Holocaust and stated that Russia was excessively friendly with Hamas.
