Crisis deepens? Russia starts pulling diplomatic staff from Ukraine
Zee News
The Tass (Russia's news agency) report said the embassy in Kyiv confirmed the evacuations have begun. An Associated Press photographer in Kyiv saw the flag was no longer flying over the embassy building in Kyiv.
Moscow: Russia's state Tass news agency reported on Wednesday that Russia has started evacuating personnel from all of its diplomatic facilities in Ukraine. Moscow has an embassy in Kyiv and consulates in Kharkiv, Odesa and Lviv. The Tass report said the embassy in Kyiv confirmed the evacuations have begun. An Associated Press photographer in Kyiv saw the flag was no longer flying over the embassy building in Kyiv.
"Our first priority is to take care of Russian diplomats and employees of the Embassy and Consulates General. To protect their lives and safety, the Russian leadership decided to evacuate staff of Russian missions in Ukraine, which will be implemented in the very near future," Russia's foreign ministry had said in a statement on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent and ordered the Russian army to launch what Moscow called a peacekeeping operation into the area. This led to the escalation of tension in the region with the West imposing a series of sanctions on the Soviet nation.
US President Joe Biden announced financial sanctions as punishment for what he called ‘the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.’ The sanctions will hit Russian financial institutions and oligarchs. He said the US would impose ‘full blocking’ on two large Russian financial institutions and ‘comprehensive sanctions’ on Russian debt.
“That means we've cut off Russia's government from Western finance,” Biden said. “It can no longer raise money from the West and cannot trade in its new debt on our markets or European markets either.” Biden promised that more sanctions would be coming if Putin proceeds further.
