WORRYING

Russia Says It Will ‘Probably’ Evacuate Diplomatic Staff From Ukraine

Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow believes Western governments are plotting some kind of provocation.

Russia says it will “probably” evacuate nonessential diplomatic staffers in Ukraine in case of any “provocations” by Western governments. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the news Thursday, attributing the move to earlier evacuations of families of diplomatic personnel by the U.S. and United Kingdom. “Incidentally, it has already occurred to us: Maybe the Anglo-Saxons are preparing something if they are evacuating their employees? We have also taken a look at their actions and we will probably also advise nonessential personnel of our diplomatic institutions to go home for a while. I don’t know what ideas our Anglo-Saxon colleagues have,” he said. Andrei Rudenko, the deputy foreign minister, said the evacuations would protect personnel from “possible provocations by the Kyiv regime or third countries,” according to TASS news agency.