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Russian Foreign Ministry summons Iranian ambassador over Russian national’s detention

The Iranian ambassador was summoned in order to establish the circumstances of the incident and ensure the Russian’s rights

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Mehdi Sanai over the detention of Russian national Yulia Yuzik in Iran, Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Friday.

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"Following Russian national Yulia Yuzik’s detention in Tehran, the Foreign Ministry has summoned the Iranian ambassador in order to establish the circumstances of the incident and ensure the Russian’s rights," she said.

On Friday, it was reported on social media that Yuzik, who used to work as a reporter in Iran, had been detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps upon her arrival in Tehran on Thursday. According to preliminary information, she is accused of cooperating with Israeli intelligence. An official at the Russian embassy in Iran told TASS that Yuzik had been arrested at a Tehran hotel. According to the official, she failed to inform the embassy that her passport had been seized at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Yuzik earlier worked for the Rostov bureau of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, and for the Russian Newsweek magazine. Since 2003, she has been writing books and doing investigative reports. In 2003, she released a book titled Brides of Allah, which was published in nine foreign countries. She is also the author of another book, Beslan Dictionary.

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