WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton University doctoral student kidnapped in Baghdad in 2023, has been freed and turned over to U.S. authorities, her family and officials said Tuesday.
Tsurkov, who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship and was researching sectarianism in the region, spent more than 900 days in captivity after disappearing in Baghdad in March 2023. She was handed to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and U.S. and Iraqi officials said she is now in U.S. custody while arrangements are made to reunite her with family.
President Donald Trump, in a social media post, identified the captors as members of Kataib Hezbollah, a militia that is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States since 2009. Trump said Tsurkov had been "tortured for many months." Kataib Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Emma Tsurkov, Elizabeth’s sister and a U.S. citizen who led a public campaign for her release, said she was in Washington for meetings when Adam Boehler, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, informed her of the news. The sisters spoke by phone and expect to be reunited within 24 hours, she said. "I heard her voice for the first time in 2 1/2 years and still couldn't believe it, and I just melted on the floor," Emma Tsurkov told The Associated Press. "I heard her voice and she heard mine, and it was the most joyous experience of my life, and we both started sobbing and screaming."
Two Iraqi militia officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, said Tsurkov’s release resulted from negotiations rather than a military rescue operation. They said one reported condition for her release was the withdrawal of U.S. forces stationed in Iraq — an agreement Washington and Baghdad reached last year — and assurances that the United States and Israel would not carry out strikes in Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani said on the social media platform X that Tsurkov’s release was the "culmination of extensive efforts exerted by our security services over the course of many months." He said Iraq would not tolerate any challenge to the authority of the state. An Iraqi army statement said security and intelligence forces had located the place where she was being held, reached it and subsequently handed her over to the U.S. Embassy, which would coordinate her reunion with her sister.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had spoken with Tsurkov’s family and that "the entire state of Israel is happy to see her return home." Al-Sudani, who assumed office in 2022 and has sought to balance relations between the United States and Iran-aligned political forces at home, has faced the delicate task of managing the PMF, a coalition of mostly Shiite militias that was placed under Iraqi military control in 2016 but often operates with significant autonomy.
Tsurkov entered Iraq on a Russian passport to pursue her doctoral research, according to the family. Emma Tsurkov said her sister had undergone spinal cord surgery days earlier, went to a coffee shop in Baghdad’s Karradah neighborhood and did not return. The last post on Tsurkov’s X account was on March 21, 2023.
The only direct public proof of life during her captivity was a video broadcast on an Iraqi television station in November 2023 that circulated on pro-Iranian social media and purported to show her. Officials from several countries said in recent months that they had confirmation she remained alive, and there were periodic reports that negotiators were close to a deal, though no agreement appeared imminent at earlier points.
The PMF, which includes Kataib Hezbollah, has been a central tension in Iraq’s relationships with Washington and Tehran. Iraqi lawmakers last year debated legislation intended to clarify the PMF’s legal status and chain of command; the proposal faced objections in Washington and had not advanced to a parliamentary vote.
Trump signed an executive order in March 2024 authorizing the United States to designate states as sponsors of wrongful detention and to use related sanctions to deter governments from unlawfully detaining third-country nationals in which the United States has a national interest. The order was part of broader U.S. efforts to address hostage-taking and wrongful detention overseas.
U.S. and Iraqi officials did not provide details on the timing or location of the handover or on the condition of Tsurkov beyond statements that she had been turned over to U.S. authorities. Iraqi militia officials said the release was the result of negotiations and noted the reported conditions. Kataib Hezbollah, which the U.S. designated for its ties to Iran and for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces, has both political and armed wings and is a component of the broader PMF structure.
Tsurkov’s academic work focused on sectarian dynamics in the region. Her disappearance prompted international concern, public advocacy by family members and diplomatic engagement. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the State Department declined to provide further comment beyond acknowledging the transfer to U.S. custody and the ongoing coordination to reunite Tsurkov with her family.
Her sister said the family was making travel arrangements and that the reunion would take place once logistical details were finalized. Officials said investigations into the circumstances of the kidnapping and her captivity are ongoing.