A bomb squad inspected the object and found it to be inert, which the man said he had bought for his "private collection." 

The embassy employee, traveling to New York, missed his flight and was allowed on the next US-bound plane - without his mortar shell. While the Russian Foreign Ministry has called the incident a "provocation" and demanded explanations, RT is having a laugh at the whole thing. 

In other failed plane boardings, a Florida man was busted last week for trying to bring an unassembled rocket-propelled grenade launcher (RPG) fom Lehigh Valley Airport in Allentown, PA to Orlando, Florida, when his checked baggage set off a security alarm. 

TSA agents opened the luggage to discover parts to make a "military-grade rocket-propelled grenade launcher," that turned out to be a replica.