Iraqi authorities continue to stall on finding and releasing Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton University researcher who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship.
She was kidnapped by the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia Kataib Hezbollah in March 2023.
Over the past two years, Iraqi government officials have several times pushed back on demands that they find her.
At other times, they have appeared to release details and hints that she is alive and that they are searching for her.
Kataib Hezbollah is part of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a group of militias that are also paramilitary forces of the Iraqi government.
As such, Iraq’s continued claims that it doesn’t know where she is do not hold water.
Iraq's next move
The question now is whether Iraq will do what is necessary to free Tsurkov.
She was a researcher studying at Princeton when she went to Iraq and was kidnapped in Baghdad. News of her kidnapping was not made public for three months.
Then, on July 5, 2023, the Prime Minister's Office reported: “Elizabeth Tsurkov is an Israeli-Russian dual citizen who has been missing in Iraq for several months and is being held by the Shi’ite militia Kataib Hezbollah.”
Prior to that, rumors had circulated about her going missing in Iraq.
After the October 7 massacre, it appears that Kataib Hezbollah chose to release a video of her.
The video was provided and then aired on an Iraqi television station, Rabiaa TV, in early November 2023.
It was the first clear sign of life from Tsurkov since March 2023. The recording was obviously done under duress.
Tsurkov’s case didn’t get much coverage at the time, because about 250 hostages were being held in Gaza.
In April 2023, however, Emma Tsurkov, Elizabeth’s sister, confronted Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani when he visited the US.
Sudani was doing the rounds in Washington, hoping to secure support from the US, and didn’t think he would face any pressure to free the researcher. He was wrong. Emma Tsurkov confronted him at the Atlantic Council, a think tank for international affairs.
Iraq didn’t seem to face any pressure from the Biden administration.
After Donald Trump was elected president, however, it seems Baghdad again sought to float the idea that it might try to locate the researcher.
In January, London-based The New Arab, a Qatari-owned news site, reported that she was still alive and being held in Iraq.
Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, traveled to Iraq last month to push for the release of Tsurkov, Reuters reported.
“Since taking office, Boehler has stepped up efforts to secure the release of Tsurkov, a Princeton University student who went missing in Iraq during a research trip in March 2023, publicly urging the Iraqi government to help her get home,” the report said.
“The Trump Administration has done more in just a few weeks than the previous administration did in almost two years,” Emma Tsurkov was quoted as saying in the Reuters report.
There is some hope that Iraq might be pressured to do the right thing now.
Iran believed to be involved
On Wednesday, Ynet reported: “Iran is believed to be involved in the detention of Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2023 by the Shi’ite militia Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi official told Ynet and Yediot Aharonot.”
It is not surprising that Iran is linked to the kidnapping. Kataib Hezbollah is one of the most senior and elite of the PMU militias.
It is close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Its former leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed alongside IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike in January 2020.
Therefore, it is obvious that Iran and Kataib Hezbollah coordinate closely.
Kataib Hezbollah also killed three Americans in Jordan in January 2024 in a drone attack.
An Iraqi government official said the prime minister did not know where Tsurkov is being held, Ynet reported. “It’s a stroke of luck she’s still alive,” he was quoted as saying. “Usually, captives don’t survive the interrogations.”
This was a strange statement to make, considering Iraq also pretends it doesn’t know who is holding her.
How would the official know she had been interrogated?
The Ynet report included another piece of information: “American diplomatic efforts have also impacted how Tsurkov is described on Iraqi social media. She is no longer labeled a ‘Zionist spy’ or ‘CIA agent,’ as she was forced to declare in a previously recorded video released by her captors. Now, social media posts refer to her as ‘the Israeli researcher who entered Iraq on a Russian passport, ignoring the ban on Israeli citizens.’”
It appears that the focus by the White House on freeing her is having some effect.
Another online post said an Iraqi official had said she entered Iraq legally on a Russian passport.
Iraq has responsibilities to protect, find, and free her.
It remains to be seen if Baghdad will step up and do what is right.