MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry has sent a plane to Syria for citizens willing to leave the war-torn country, a spokeswoman said Sunday.
“An Il-76 plane took off for Latakia on Sunday morning. The plane will carry both Russians and citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) from Syria,” emergencies ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius said.
Late last month, nearly 90 people, mostly women and children, returned to Moscow from Syria onboard the Ilyushin Il-62 plane. The plane took off from Latakia, a major port city in Syria’s northwest.
Almost 730 citizens of Russia and other former Soviet republics have fled civil war in Syria on Emergencies Ministry planes since January, the ministry said in August.
The unrest in Syria began in March 2011 and later escalated into a civil war. More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, according to UN estimates.
