Russian defence ministry ready to evacuate Russians from Syria

Russia’s defence ministry is keeping a close eye on the situation in and around Syria to be ready to evacuate Russian citizens from that country at any moment, if necessary, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday. “If necessary, we are ready to evacuate Russian citizens,” he told journalists. “For these ends, we keep a number of our ships near Syria;s coasts. We are monitoring the situation. We have sent more ships there.” Russian defence ministry specialists “see and hear everything what is happening in Syria and its adjacent waters,” he said. “We are doing this to promptly begin evacuation of Russian citizens, if need be. It is impossible to evacuate 7,000 people overnight.” As far as the Syrian settlement is concerned, in his words, Russia “is not a defective element, it looks very worthy.” He reminded that Russia already had some experience in mass evacuating of its citizens from various troubled areas.