Iraq Urges Its Citizens In Ukraine To Leave Amid Tension

Baghdad, Feb 12: Iraq urged Saturday its citizens in Ukraine to leave the country and called on Iraqi diplomats to take their annual leave amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

“For the safety of the Iraqi community in Ukraine, and as a result of the exceptional circumstances there, the ministry urges the community to leave Ukrainian territory and not to travel to it,” the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The ministry also called on the employees of the Iraqi embassy in Kiev “to take their annual leave in a way that ensures the safety of the diplomatic mission’s personnel,” the statement said. The Iraqi ministry’s decision came at a time of increasing uncertainty over the Russian-Ukrainian border.