PERM, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Two American senators were detained at Perm airport, the Urals, after they refused to follow the instructions of frontier guards, a spokesman for the airport said Monday.
Maxim Zhaleyev said: "The American senators were detained on August 28 when they refused to follow the instructions of frontier guards while boarding a plane. The flight was delayed for three hours."
The U.S. Embassy in Russia said the senators had been detained due to a misunderstanding regarding the status of the plane.
Senator Richard G. Lugar from Indiana and his colleague Barack Obama from Illinois were visiting Perm within the framework of Russian-American agreements. They were inspecting facilities where a U.S.-financed program to destroy weapons of mass destruction is being implemented.
On Monday, Lugar and Obama will leave Russia and head for Kiev, where they will meet with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
On Wednesday, August 31, the senators will visit Baku to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. On the same day, they will fly on to London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The senators will return to Washington on September 2.
