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Middle East and North Africa

Two jets fly to Beirut to evacuate Russians leaving Syria

About a hundred Russian citizens are expected to use this opportunity to return to Moscow

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, January 22 (Itar-Tass) — A second plane of Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations /EMERCOM/ took off from Ramenskoye airfield outside Moscow at 12:25 Moscow time on Tuesday and is on its way to Beirut to evacuate Russians who have decided to leave neighboring Syria, EMERCOM’s information department sources told Itar-Tass.

Earlier, at 12:01 Moscow time an Yak-42 aircraft took off from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport for the capital of Lebanon.

“Flights of two jets, an Ilyushin-76 and Yakovlev-42, to Beirut have been chartered for Tuesday, January 22, to help the Russians willing to come back to Moscow to do so,” EMERCOM spokeswoman Irina Rossius said.

About a hundred Russian citizens are expected to use this opportunity to return to Moscow.

All those willing to take the flights to Moscow are already in Lebanon, the ministry specified.

“Early data indicates the number of those people doesn’t exceed 150 and most of them are women and children,” Rossius said.

According to the spokeswoman, medics and psychologists will accompany the evacuees on the return flight.

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