News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The deputy foreign minister of Kazakhstan informed President Shimon Peres on Wednesday that jailed Israeli Boris Schenkmann will have more visitation rights and rights to communicate with his family because of intervention by Peres, according to Maariv/nrg. Schenkmann was arrested by the Kazakh secret service in March while acting as an agent for Israeli security companies.

Under the easing of restrictions, Schenkmann will be able to meet with his daughter, Lee, and have telephone calls with his family in Israel. In-person visits are allowed to be longer.

The four companies that Schenkmann represents did 300 million shekels worth of trading in sophisticated weapons in Kazakhstan in 2007 and 2008. It is not known whether his arrest is the result of  competiton between the Kazakh secret services or whether Russia is behind the arrest on the premise that Israel is impinging on its territory.