RUSSIA REJECTS REPORTS OF EVACUATION OF ITS DIPLOMATIC PERSONNEL FROM UKRAINE

Tue 18 January 2022:

On Tuesday, Russia denied removing its diplomatic staff from Ukraine, a move that some have viewed as a prelude to an invasion.

According to a statement on Telegram by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, the Russian Embassy in Kyiv and consulates in other locations are operating normally.

“The Embassy and Consulates General of Russia in Ukraine are operating routinely. They do this despite attacks on Russian foreign institutions by Ukrainian radicals and provocations by local security forces,” she said.

Zakharova went on to say that the media who covered the claimed evacuation failed to contact the ministry for comment, but that if they had, they would have discovered the truth.

“If an American newspaper had contacted us for comment, it would have found out about it. But then, apparently, there would be no desire to publish the article,” she wrote.

The beginning of the evacuation of Russian diplomats from their embassy in Kyiv was reported by the New York Times earlier Tuesday, implying that Russia is prepared for a “looming conflict” with its western neighbor.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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