Elizabeth Charkov Elizabeth Tsurkov age 36, Kidnapped in southern Iraq by the Iranian-affiliated Shiite militia Kata’ib Hezbollah, probably by order from Tehran, has been held in a prison of the Iraqi militia for five months since March of this year.
In the last two years, Elizabeth Churkov has left and entered Iraq several times. According to her, and according to sources at Princeton University, she conducted research on the Iraqi Shia religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia.
On Friday 7.7 the Iraqi government announced, Because she is investigating the kidnapping of the Israeli researcher Elizabeth Churkov in Baghdad, who is being held by the Iraqi ‘Hezbollah Brigades’. The government spokesman, Bassem al-Awdi said when asked about the issue in an interview with the Iraqi TV channel “Al-Ahed”. The spokesman added that given the level of the case and its complexities, there will be no official statement on this issue until the Iraqi government completes its investigation and reaches conclusions. Press releases or official positions will then be given.
This is not the first time that the Baghdad government deals with the fate of Elizabeth Churkov, the former prime minister of Iraq Haider al-Abdi Haider al-Abadi, and the current Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Al Sudani Mohammed Shea’ Al Sudani Through intelligence channels the United States and Russia were informed that Elizabeth Cherkov was in danger and that she had better leave Iraq.
However, apart from taking a few precautions, Elizabeth Cherkov did not heed these warnings and remained in Iraq.
The discovery of a western woman in the Shiite areas of Baghdad and southern Iraq is not an accepted thing in Iraq, so no one was surprised that one day this year she disappeared.
On Friday 7.7, Israel’s ambassador in Moscow Alexander Ben Zvi met with senior diplomats at the Russian Foreign Ministry when the topic of conversation between them was Elizabeth Cherkov. This was Israel’s first attempt to coordinate positions with Moscow during the attempts to bring about the release of Elizabeth Cherkov.
Circles in the Israeli intelligence community that rejected the hypothesis that Elizabeth Cherkov worked for them stated that she used her connections in the United States and Russia to obtain entry visas to Iraq. They also stated that her ties with Israel are very loose and in the books and articles she published she harshly attacked Israel.
Despite all the denials from Washington, Moscow and Jerusalem, that a prisoner exchange deal is being forged between Tehran and Washington, which will result in an exchange of American and Iranian prisoners and prisoners in exchange for the release of Elizabeth Chernov, news about it continues to be published.
In other words, the terms for the release of Elizabet Chernov are still being negotiated.
2023-07-07 14:39:49