On February 22, 2023, after arriving at the Maurice Bishop International Airport in Grenada from London via St. Lucia, Mr. Firer was denied entry into the country and asked to board a flight back to London.

Mr. Firer arrived to Grenada using his United States of America passport, the same passport which had been used to board the flight from London. Upon arrival to Grenada, Mr. Firer complied with the demand of the Head of Immigration to surrender the Grenada Diplomatic Passport issued in his name. The demand was made in the face of the disclosure to immigration that a Grenadian law firm had already been instructed in last quarter of the year 2022 to make an application for Mr. Firer to hold an ordinary Grenada passport.

The only justification provided to Mr. Firer for the denial of entry into Grenada was that the denial was based on superior orders. Further, Mr. Firer faced insinuations that he was not welcome to Grenada at the time and did not meet the unspecified entry requirements.

On February 23, 2023, Mr. Firer contacted the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Grenada who clamed to be unaware of the situation.

Prior to this occurrence Mr. Firer had represented Grenada as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for almost a decade, and over the years Grenada has derived substantial financial and other benefits from Mr. Firer’s activities with the creation of significant economic, cultural and diplomatic ties.

Since the elections of June 2022, Mr. Firer made several attempts to reach out to the Prime Minister and Foeign Affairs Minister Hon. Andall Joseph to have a constructive dialogue leading to some definitive resolution of any future role. Despite numerous attempts to reach the ministers and promises to establish follow up contact, none of Mr. Firer’s efforts has borne any fruit to date.

Up to February 22nd 2023 there was also no formal communication of any kind from the new administration regarding the surrender of the diplomatic passport held in Mr. Firer’s name. On the contrary, there were conversations between Mr. Firer and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the issue of a possible transition process and it had been agreed by the parties that Mr. Firer would travel in to Grenada in or about the period of February to March to have a meeting and discuss such transaction.

Of even greater importance is the fact that several senior officials in the current administration are aware that Mr. Firer, as a private citizen, has significant financial and other interests in Grenada and is the owner of real estate in the country.

Mr. Firer categorically states that he is not a Russian-born individual, but is of Jewish origin and born in a region which is now known as Ukraine which was a part of the original Soviet Union. As a young boy, his family obtained refugee status into the United States of America from the Soviet Union as stateless nationals. Their refugee status allowed them to reside in Austria and Italy where they resided before making their way to New York where Mr. Firer grew up and spent most of his life.

Mr. Firer intends to vigorously defend his character and pursue all legal remedies available to him in this matter and has already instructed the Grenadian law office of Hood & Hood to represent his interests in this matter.