Russia begins evacuating personnel from all its diplomatic missions in Ukraine

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced today, Wednesday, that it has begun evacuating employees from all the headquarters of its diplomatic missions in Ukraine.

The Foreign Ministry said earlier that the Russian leadership decided to evacuate the employees of diplomatic missions in Ukraine, to protect people’s lives and ensure their safety.

She confirmed in a statement yesterday, Tuesday, that the evacuations will take place as soon as possible, noting that this decision was taken due to objective threats to the life and safety of embassy employees.

The ministry said: “Since 2014, the Russian Embassy in Kiev and the general consulates of our country in Odessa, Lviv and Kharkov have been repeatedly attacked. Provocations were regularly launched against the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Kiev … and the center’s property was damaged.”

She explained that Russian diplomats received threats of physical violence, and their cars were set on fire, noting that, contrary to what is stipulated in the Vienna Conventions on diplomatic and consular relations, the Kiev authorities did not take any action to prevent this from happening.