In early January, families of Russian diplomats started to leave Ukraine, The New York Times reports, citing a senior officer of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).
On 5 January, 18 persons, mostly children and wives of diplomats, embussed and headed to Moscow. In the following days, about 30 more people linked to Russia’s diplomatic corps left Kyiv and Lviv, the article reads. Diplomats working at two other consulates have been ordered to prepare for the departure, NYT authors inform.
They note that the Russian authorities were going to take members of diplomats’ families from the Russian Embassy in Ukraine at the turn of the year. NYT sources suggest that this fact might be indicative of the Kremlin’s getting ready for launching a military operation against Ukraine or any further escalation of the situation.
Meanwhile, Oleh Nikolenko, Spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, states that they have not received any information from the Russian side about the alleged relocation of diplomatic missions’ employees. The embassies of other countries did not announce their intention to evacuate their staff either, news agency Interfax Ukraine quotes Nikolenko. In turn, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has no plans to transfer Ukrainian diplomats who are currently staying in Russia back to Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Kyiv say that their diplomats are working ‘as usual’.
belsat.eu
