Transportation Ministry Director General Gideon Siterman has been arrested Saturday in Kiev Airport and was refused entry to the Ukraine for failing to have the required visa entrance papers, according to Haaretz newspaper (Israel).
Haaretz discovered on Saturday that the consuls of both Israel and the Ukraine, as well as the emergency board of Israel`s Foreign Ministry offices in Jerusalem have all acted to free the director general from his arrest.
However, only after a personal intervention from Ukrainian vice transportation minister, Siterman was released and allowed to leave the premises of the airport.
"The mistake was ours," Siterman said following his release. "But as soon as they found out who I was, they allowed me to leave the area and I was even escorted to my car."
Siterman arrived in Kiev for a series of preparation talks preceding the official visit of Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz that is scheduled for June.
