Special to WorldTribune.com

MOSCOW — Russia has reported a drive to evacuate its nationals from
Syria.

Officials said the Kremlin has ordered the imminent airlift of Russians
from Syria. They said two aircraft would arrive in Lebanon on Jan. 22 to evacuate the first members of the Russian community in Syria.

“On instructions from the Russian government, the Emergencies Ministry will send two planes — an Il-76 and a Yak-42 — to Beirut so that Russians could leave Syria,” Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius said.

This marked the first official report of a Russian evacuation from Syria. On Jan. 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the northern city of Aleppo. The ministry still operates the embassy in Damascus.

Western diplomats estimate the Russian community in Syria at more than
30,000, many of them working in projects for the Syrian government and
military. The Russian Navy has been operating a base in the Syrian port of
Tartous.

The Syrian rebel movement has warned that Russians would be targets in
the war against the regime of President Bashar Assad. Several Russians have
been abducted or killed in the nearly two-year-old civil war.

  Bashar Assad, Kremlin orders the evacuation of Russian nationals from Syria, port of Tartous, Russian consulate in Aleppo, Russian Emergencies Ministry