Unlike the chaotic evacuation of countries belonging to the US-led Atlantic Alliance, Russia has been smoothly pulling out its own citizens as well as of other nationalities to their home bases in Central Asia and Ukraine.
On Thursday, a Russian Defence Ministry special flight evacuated 22 Tajik citizens from Kabul, Russia’s Tass news agency reported. The Tajik citizens landed safely in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital, the Tajik Foreign Ministry told TASS Thursday.
As the head of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) —a security alliance that includes key Central Asian countries, Armenia and Belarus, Russia has taken up the responsibility of pulling out citizens of member countries. Besides, Russia is also evacuating citizens of Ukraine, and Uzbekistan—two countries which are not CSTO members.
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The Russian defence ministry noted that the evacuation was done in coordination with the Tajik and Russian diplomatic missions in Kabul. The Tajik foreign ministry said that the Tajik diplomatic mission continues to operate in the Afghan capital "as usual."
Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry had deployed four planes to pull out citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine from Kabul. Overall, the Ministry plans to evacuate over 500 citizens of Russia, the CSTO member states, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Russia views Central Asia as part of its area of responsibility. Ukraine was once a part of the former Soviet Union, but after the collapse of USSR, it turned close to the West, and is now central to the tussle between Russia and the US for influence in the Black Sea area. Analysts see Ukraine as a “pivotal” state, which might recalibrate its stance towards Moscow after the Afghan evacuation.
