Moscow summons Iran envoy over arrest of Russian journalist in Tehran

Russia’s government has summoned Iran’s ambassador to Moscow to clarify the circumstances around the arrest of a Russian journalist in Tehran, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Iran’s envoy was “invited to the Foreign Ministry to quickly clarify the circumstances” and ensure the rights of journalist Yulia Yuzik are observed. Zakharova did not further details.

The Russian Embassy in Tehran told AFP the mission had requested consular access to the journalist. “She’s being accused of working for Israeli security services,” Andrei Ganenko, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Tehran, told AFP, citing her mother. Journalist Boris Voitsekhovsky, identified by Russian media as Yuzik’s ex-husband, said she was detained in Tehran and jailed on Thursday. A court hearing is scheduled for Saturday, he said. Voitsekhovsky said Yuzik was detained by members of the Iranian revolutionary guard, who

provide had broken down her hotel door. She was allowed to briefly call her family on Thursday night.

Yuzik, 38, has worked for a number of publications including the Russian version of Newsweek. She authored two books including “Beslan Dictionary,” which is based on testimony from survivors of the 2004 Beslan school massacre that claimed more than 330 lives, more than half of them children.

“The representative of Russia’s consulate is now at the Iranian Foreign Ministry trying to resolve this issue,” he said, adding that Yuzik had been in Iran at least once before, when she spent a few months working for a local media outlet,” according to Voitsekhovsky.