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Iraqi PM Breaks Silence on Missing Researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani has publicly addressed the case of kidnapped Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov for the first time in an interview with the Associated Press. “We are relying on information from our friends [other nations] in more than one case as we track the groups responsible for the abduction of the Russian citizen,” al-Sudani said, using Tsurkov’s Russian nationality to reference her. “We understand and sympathize with her family. Our partners know how much effort we’ve invested — and continue to invest,” he added. Al-Sudani stressed that Iraq does not negotiate with “gangs or kidnappers” but is leveraging political connections to help locate Tsurkov. “We are using our ties with certain political actors who have contributed their efforts to help discover the fate of the citizen. These efforts continue until the moment she is released, inshallah.” Tsurkov, a Princeton University PhD student and prominent Middle East analyst, was abducted in Baghdad in March 2023.