US authorities take Scott Ritter off plane to Russia, seize his passport

The US Department of State has not allowed former Marine Corps intelligence officer and American foreign policy critic Scott Ritter to board a flight from New York to Istanbul.

Ritter, who regularly appears on Press TV as a commentator, was going on his trip to Russia to participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as a guest speaker.

“I was boarding the flight. Three [police] officers pulled me aside. They took my passport. When asked why, they said ‘orders of the State Department’. They had no further information for me,” Ritter told RT on Tuesday.

“They pulled my bags off the plane, then escorted me out of the airport. They kept my passport,” he added.

Ritter further told Sputnik that he thinks the US authorities prevented him from traveling because they are "afraid" of his participation in the St. Petersburg event.

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The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is set to take place on June 5-8.

This year’s event is titled "The Foundations of a Multipolar World - The Formation of New Areas of Growth."

The US State Department declined to comment on the matter.

"We cannot comment on the status of the passport of a private US citizen," a State Department spokesperson told Russia's Tass news agency.

Ritter is a strong critic of US foreign policy particularly on Israel and has supported Palestinian resistance fighters since they launched the “Operation al-Aqsa Storm” against occupation forces on October 7, 2023.

Ritter called it “an extraordinary accomplishment from a strictly military standpoint.”

“It was stunning,” lauded Ritter.

Hamas operation was ‘extraordinary accomplishment from military standpoint’: Scott Ritter

The “Operation al-Aqsa Storm” launched by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on October 7 was “an extraordinary accomplishment from a strictly military standpoint,” former US military intelligence officer Scott Ritter has said.

Palestinian resistance movements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched a large-scale operation with a heavy barrage of rockets in response to Israel’s desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its campaign of aggression, violation, and bloodshed against Palestinians.

The military operation shook the Israeli security establishment, leaving hundreds of Israelis dead and hundreds of others injured.  The attack was considered the biggest intelligence failure on the part of Israel since the 1973 war.

Israel waged the atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after the “Operation al-Aqsa Storm.”

At least 36,479 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and another 82,777 individuals have sustained injuries.

More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced during the war as well.

Ritter has condemned Israel’s aggression and noted that if the international community holds the US accountable for the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, then maybe the United States will realize that supporting Israel is a losing proposition.

Ritter is author of “Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union.”

He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, served in General Schwarzkopf's staff during the (Persian) Gulf War, and from 1991 to 1998 served as a chief weapons inspector with the UN in Iraq.

Ritter currently writes on issues pertaining to international security, military affairs, Russia, and the Middle East, as well as arms control and nonproliferation.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk