MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/: Saudi Arabia evacuated several dozen Russian nationals from Sudan aboard military ships, Ruslan Usmanov, Spokesman of the Russian Consulate General in Jeddah told TASS Sunday.
"Russian nationals do not evacuate on their own. They are being evacuated by Saudi military ships. They took this issue upon themselves. They evacuate from Port Sudan and take them to the Port of Jeddah, to the naval base. We meet them here," the diplomat said. "So far, about 40 Russian have arrived. Most of them have already departed: some back to Russia, and some to other countries - depending on their destination."
Usmanov specified that Russian citizens travel to Russia through transit countries, such as Egypt, Qatar and the UAE.
According to the spokesman, Saudi Arabia also evacuates American and European citizens. Saudi authorities provide lists of evacuated people to the consulate general several hours in advance.
"Saudi Arabia also pays for their two-day stay in hotel, with catering," Usmanov. "After that, Russian citizens depart to Russia. If necessary, we escort them to the airport, resolve some issues, but, usually, everything goes smoothly. There have been no problems so far."
The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council.
The main points of contention between the two military organizations pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists.
On April 15, armed clashes between the rival military factions erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum.
