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IN BRIEF: Russia evacuates personnel from Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant

The Russian embassy expressed gratitude to the Armenian authorities "for their kind attitude and quick handling of exit procedures" for Rosatom personnel

© Anadolu via Reuters Connect

MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. A group of 175 Russian employees evacuated from Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) have taken a special flight from the Armenian capital of Yerevan to Moscow, the Russian embassy in Armenia said.

Earlier, Alexey Likhachev, director general of Russia’s Rosatom Atomic Energy Corporation, said that evacuation buses left the Bushehr facility about 20 minutes after a US strike hit the area on Saturday, and headed for the Iran-Armenia border.

TASS has gathered the key information about the evacuation of Russian energy workers.

NPP personnel evacuation

- A group of 175 Rosatom employees who worked at the Bushehr NPP in Iran took a special flight from Yerevan to Moscow, the Russian embassy in Armenia said.

- They arrived in Armenia from Iran through the Norduz-Agarak border crossing.

- The embassy expressed deep gratitude to the Armenian authorities "for their kind attitude and quick handling of exit procedures" for Rosatom personnel.

- On Saturday, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev announced that the state corporation had initiated the main round of personnel evacuations from the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran.

- According to him, buses took 198 people to the Iran-Armenia border.

- The buses left the Bushehr facility about 20 minutes after a strike hit the protection circuit near the site, Likhachev noted.

- The Rosatom chief emphasized that Iran was making significant efforts to ensure the safe evacuation of Rosatom employees from the NPP.

NPP personnel

- Some of Rosatom’s personnel expressed readiness to continue working in Iran, Likhachev said on Sunday.

- Earlier, the Rosatom director general stated that the first power unit of the Bushehr NPP remained operational and a certain number of personnel would stay at the facility.

Preparations for evacuation

- Likhachev announced on Thursday, April 2, that Rosatom was getting ready for the final round of evacuations of its personnel from Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.

- He said that Russia would ask all parties, including the US and Israel, to cease fire for the evacuation effort and that all parties would be informed of intended routes.

- The details of the evacuation campaign were not made public. According to Likhachev, Rosatom is in close contact with the Russian ministries of defense and foreign affairs.

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