Russian Journalist Detained in Iran, Accused of Spying for Israel

A Russian journalist has been arrested in the Iranian capital and kept in custody since earlier this week, the Russian embassy to Tehran said on Friday.

The embassy’s press attaché told the Tass news agency that Yulia Yuzik flew into Tehran last Sunday and that Iranian officials seized her passport at the airport for unknown reasons. She was arrested in her hotel room on Wednesday.

The attaché could not immediately say why the journalist was under arrest.

The Russian foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to Moscow to explain Yuzik’s arrest.

It later said in a statement that Ambassador Mehdi Sanai told Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov that Yuzik would be freed “shortly,” after police question her. The ministry didn’t elaborate.

Yuzik’s former husband Boris Voitsekhovsky said on social media on Friday that she called him from detention saying that she faces charges of espionage for Israel.

Yuzik, who worked for several prominent Russian publications and has reported from Iran, posted pictures from her trip on social media earlier this week, saying that she loved being there.