All four Russian Defense Ministry aircraft, three IL-76s and an IL-62 with evacuees from Afghanistan have landed at the Chkalovsky airport near Moscow.
The passengers are undergoing border control and sanitary procedures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Earlier it was reported that about 100 people arrived on the first IL-76. These were mostly Russians of Afghan origin.
One of them told reporters he had spent five months in Afghanistan. He had come there to visit relatives, but was stuck "because of the political situation that had arisen." "It's cold. There is yet a feeling of safety," he shared his first impressions of arriving in Moscow.
The evacuation of more than 500 citizens of Russia, CSTO countries (Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) and Ukraine from Afghanistan was carried out by the Russian Defense Ministry on instructions from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The planes left Kabul on Wednesday. They landed at airfields in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, delivering citizens of these republics there, and then flew to Russia.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS