Around 7,000 Russian nationals have been evacuated from countries across the Middle East following escalating regional tensions, a representative of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI) has said.
Dmitry Arutyunov, co-chair of the RUTI Outbound Tourism Committee, told a news conference on Wednesday that roughly 50,000 Russian tourists are currently in the region.
“About 7,000 passengers have been evacuated,” he said, noting that the figure includes both package tour travelers and independent tourists.
The estimate of approximately 50,000 Russians stranded across the Middle East was also confirmed by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
Zakharova added that between 6,000 and 8,000 Russian citizens are currently unable to leave countries in Asia and Africa due to suspended transit air connections.
She further disclosed that as of March 3, a total of 292 Russian nationals had been evacuated from Iran amid rising hostilities.
According to her, 253 of those evacuated left via Azerbaijan, 31 through Armenia, while eight crossed the Iranian-Turkmen border.
The evacuations follow joint airstrikes by the United States and Israel on February 28 targeting Tehran and other Iranian cities, which were met with retaliatory missile and drone attacks by Iran against Israeli and U.S. military facilities in the region.
Visit GMTNewsng for more news stories.
