Mark Millstein, a Jew claiming Mexican citizenship, is being detained by the Soviet authorities, who refuse to permit him to leave Russia, it is reported today.
Millstein, who is a mining engineer, has worked in Leningrad for the last year as a specialist.
Millstein left Russia in 1918 for Mexico and then acquired Mexican citizenship. For seven years he was employed by the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company.
The Soviet authorities now refuse to recognize his Mexican passport and insist that he is a Russian citizen. Millstein has petitioned Maxim Litvinov, Commissar for Foreign Affairs, but has thus far received no reply from him.
Since Mexico has no diplomatic connections with Russia, Millstein’s fate depends entirely upon the Soviet authorities.
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