Russian Officials Split on Reasons for Detention of U.S. Senators

MosNews
Aug. 29, 2005

Officials have given controversial explanations for the recent plane delay that held up two U.S. senators at a Russian airport. The aircraft was delayed in Perm because the local airport does not service flights under the international Open-Skies Agreement, the Russian Federal Security Service said.

Another report, however, says the senators were detained after they refused to obey border guards’ demands, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

Later in the day the Foreign Ministry of Russia issued a statement in which it expressed regret over the incident. “We regret that a misunderstanding has taken place and the discomfort experienced by senators,” the statement reads.

At the same time, the statement said that it would be incorrect to say that the aircraft carrying U.S. senators was detained in Perm. “The departure of the U.S. Air Force aircraft that carried the senators and the accompanying persons was delayed as local border guard authorities had questions concerning some formalities (as the U.S. party was leaving for Ukraine) and also the status of the flight was checked. After the diplomatic status of the flight was confirmed, the senators left Russia,” the ministry’s statement said.

RIA Novosti quoted an FSB official as saying: “The aircraft carrying the U.S. senators was delayed because Perm airport, where they arrived from Moscow’s Sheremetevo airport, is not included in the Open-Skies Agreement.”

The deputy head of the border checkpoint at Bolshoye Savino airport, Captain Maksim Zhaleyev, told Interfax the U.S. senators were detained at Perm airport because they had refused to obey border guards’ demands.

“On 28 August, the U.S. senators were detained before boarding the aircraft because they had refused to obey the demands of the border guards. The flight was delayed for three hours,” the officer said, refraining from further comments.

Richard Lugar of Indiana and Barack Obama of Illinois visited Perm in the framework of the Russo-American agreement on assisting the implementation of the Nunn-Lugar program under which the U.S. is helping Russia to dismantle and scrap nuclear weapons.

The Russian Federal Security Service’s directorate for Perm Region has told RIA Novosti that information about the reasons for the senators’ detention will be provided later.

The Ekho Moskvy news agency quoted the press service of the U.S. embassy in Moscow as saying that the incident was caused by “a misunderstanding on the part of the local authorities”.

The U.S. Senate delegation led by Senator Richard Lugar was detained for three hours at the Perm airport on Sunday as it tried to leave the country.