Three weeks since he 'disappeared in Israel': online campaign for the Russian historian

Activists in Russia have launched an online campaign to clarify the fate of Russian-Israeli historian Artem Kirpichonok, who landed at Ben Gurion Airport on August 2 and has since vanished without a trace. The activists have appealed to authorities in Moscow to intervene, while neither Russia nor Israel have provided official updates since Ambassador Viktorov's statement about three weeks ago.

Activists in Russia have published petitions calling on Moscow authorities to act to clarify the fate of Artem Kirpichonok, a Russian historian with Israeli citizenship who landed at Ben Gurion Airport on August 2 and has since vanished without a trace. According to his associates, all attempts to contact him have failed. Russia's ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, told the TASS news agency about three weeks ago that Russian diplomats are monitoring the situation, but no official updates have been provided by Russia or Israel since then. Kirpichonok, 51, was born in St. Petersburg, immigrated to Israel in the 1990s and studied at the Hebrew University, and after about 15 years returned to Russia. He frequently criticizes Israel and Zionism. The petitions present him as a leading expert on the Middle East who has published eight books and hundreds of articles.