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Ex-US intel officer Ritter plans to contact US government following passport seizure

Earlier, Scott Ritter told that he had been pulled off a flight from New York to Istanbul from where he intended to travel to Russia to take part in the SPIEF

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Scott Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector, has said he plans to contact the US government following the seizure of his passport by border officials.

Earlier, the US Department of State restricted Ritter from traveling to Russia to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"No, I don't have my passport yet," Ritter told the Rossiya-1 TV channel. "I will contact the US government, and I will insist on getting my passport back," he added.

Earlier, Ritter told TASS that he had been pulled off a flight from New York to Istanbul from where he intended to travel to Russia to take part in the SPIEF. His passport was seized, Ritter said, adding that US officials had not clarified the reason why he had been stopped from leaving the country, only saying that it was being done based on instructions from the US Department of State. A department spokesperson told TASS that the agency "cannot comment on the status of the passport of a private US citizen."

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