MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. Moscow would like to extend gratitude to Azerbaijan for its assistance in the organization of the evacuation of Russian nationals from Iran via checkpoints on the Iranian-Azerbaijani border, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
"Russians are being evacuated mostly via checkpoints on the border with Azerbaijan. Our Azerbaijani friends provide favorable conditions and we are thankful to them for that," he told reporters when asked how many Russian nationals are staying in Iran and how many of them want to be evacuated.
According to the Kremlin spokesman, work to evacuate Russian citizens continues round the clock. "The embassy has all the information about those in question. It knows how many Russians are in Iran, who wants to be evacuated, and it is keeping a close eye on our citizens to keep them out of harm's way," Peskov added.
According to the Russian embassy in Azerbaijan, at least 313 Russian nationals were evacuated from Iran to Azerbaijan on June 14 and 15. Thus, 88 people, including popular Russian film director Fyodor Bondarchuk’s crew, were evacuated on June 14, and 225, including families of Russian diplomats and members of the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra, left Iran on June 15.
Overnight into June 13, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion targeting Iran’s nuclear program. Iran responded in less than 24 hours. In the following days, Tel Aviv and Tehran continued to exchange strikes. Both parties reported casualties and damage, and admitted that a number of facilities had been hit, but said the damage was limited.