Pavel Talankin, the star and co-director of the Academy award-winning documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, had his Oscar statuette confiscated by officials at New York's John F. Kennedy airport. TSA agents at Terminal 1 informed Talankin on Wednesday morning that the 8.5lb trophy could not be taken on board because it posed a security risk and could be used as a weapon.
Talankin, whose work documenting Russia's propaganda machine in grade schools received international acclaim, noted that he had brought the statuette on several flights previously without incident. Following the TSA's decision, the 3.8kg statuette was checked into hold luggage for his Lufthansa flight to Germany.
The trophy subsequently went missing after being placed in the hold. However, Lufthansa announced on Friday that the missing Oscar statuette has since been found.