World Jewish News

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Crisis between Israel, Russia averted

A small-scale, short-lived diplomatic tiff between Israel and Russia occurred overnight Monday as authorities in St. Petersburg forbade an Arkia plane from flying out of the city.
The minor crisis began to unfold on Monday night, as 260 passengers waited at the Moscow airport for their flight to Tel Aviv, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Many of them were pensioners who had just completed a tour of Russia, unaware that the plane which was to take them back to Israel was stuck at the airport of a different Russian city.
The cause for the delay was apparently a demand by Russian authorities to see the passengers’ tourist visas.
Attempts by the pilots and crew to explain that Israel and Russia signed an agreement to cancel tourist visa requirements in 2008 proved to be futile as authorities adamantly refused to allow the plane to take off from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and from there to Tel Aviv.
Russian and Israeli diplomats tried to intervene despite the late hour. However, it was a last-ditch effort by the Israeli Airports Authority (IAA) that saved the day and averted a full-blown crisis as a Russian Transaero Airlines plane with passengers on board was prevented from flying out of Ben Gurion Airport.
The Arkia plane was subsequently permitted to leave Russia, and was making its way to Israel on Tuesday morning.

JPost.com