Russia evacuates over 500 people from Afghanistan

Russia has evacuated more than 500 people from Afghanistan till Thursday.

The Russian Defence Ministry evacuated more than 500 people, citizens of Russia, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states and Ukraine, from Afghanistan by four military transport aircraft at the instruction of President Vladimir Putin, reported Tass.

Four planes took off from Kabul on Wednesday. They made stopovers in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to drop off citizens of these countries.

Two Russian Defense Ministry's Il-76 planes with people evacuated from Afghanistan landed at Chkalovsky airport near Moscow today.

Earlier also, two planes landed at Chkalovsky, Il-62 and Il-76. There were around 100 people, mostly Russian nationals of Afghan origin, onboard the Il-76 plane, reported Tass.

Thus, all the four planes the Russian defence ministry sent to Afghanistan to evacuate people have returned home.

One of those evacuated told journalists he had spent five months in Afghanistan. He said he had come to that country to visit his relatives but got stuck "because of the political situation."

The Taliban entered Kabul last week, causing the civilian government to collapse. As a result, many countries have started evacuating their citizens and diplomatic personnel from the beleaguered nation due to the precarious security situation, and some have pledged to take in a number of Afghan asylum seekers.

( With inputs from ANI )

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