Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and US President Donald Trump have announced the release of Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov who was kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023.

“As a culmination of extensive efforts exerted by our security services over the course of many months, we announce the release of the Russian citizen, Elizabeth Tsurkov,” Sudani said on X.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Tsurkov “was just released” by the powerful pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah group “after being tortured for many months” and was now at the US embassy in Baghdad.

Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University, was kidnapped in Baghdad in March 2023.

There was no claim of responsibility for her abduction back then, but Israel accused Kataeb Hezbollah of holding Tsurkov.

Tsurkov, who is likely to have entered Iraq on her Russian passport, travelled to the country as part of her doctoral studies.

– Agence France-Presse