Overview
- Tsurkov says she endured beatings, sexual violence, electric shocks and prolonged isolation during roughly 903 days in captivity.
- She entered Iraq on her Russian passport for research and was abducted after a staged meeting with a woman posing as a researcher.
- Her captors accused her of espionage and aired a coerced confession in 2023, where she embedded coded references to torture and electric shocks.
- Medical evaluations in Israel found nerve damage and other injuries, and doctors expect long-term physical and psychological rehabilitation.
- She was freed in early September and moved through Iraqi custody to medical care in Baghdad before flights to Cyprus and Israel, while reports name U.S.-linked intermediaries in her release that the White House has not confirmed.