Despite a temporary Russian ban on liquids in carry-on luggage, some air travelers heading to the Olympics through Moscow brought toothpaste and other toiletries through security checkpoints without problems.
The Homeland Security Department warned airlines flying to Russia that terrorists might try to smuggle explosives in toothpaste tubes.
On Thursday, the agency banned all liquids from carry-on luggage for nonstop flights from the U.S. to Russia.
Yet six Associated Press employees passed through security in Moscow without having to remove toothpaste, hand lotion or water bottles from their carry-on luggage.
Other travelers had similar experiences.
"I had an empty … water bottle because I was hoping to fill it up on the plane but no one checked it," said Matt Segal, an Australian tourist who traveled from Moscow to Sochi.
Some AP employees traveling directly to Sochi from Frankfurt, Germany, passed through security there carrying travel-sized liquids, including toothpaste.
A photographer who had a plastic bag with a half-dozen liquid items was asked to take it out for screening in Boston, but security officials in Frankfurt left it in the bag.
A journalist who carried a water bottle at a Sochi train station had to hand it over to security officials. They examined it with a scanning device to make sure its contents were not flammable before returning it.
Associated Press
