Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry is ascertaining the citizenship of people transported by air from Syria by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, the representative of the Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev told Trend news agency referring to the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Syria Mahir Aliyev.

"The Foreign Ministry is ascertaining the issue of transportation of Azerbaijanis from Syria by a Russian Emergency Situations Ministry flight and the citizenship of these people," Abdullayev said.

Earlier it was reported that the Russian ministry's plane flew from Syria to Moscow on May 28 night with 130 Russians and citizens of CIS member states.

More than 80 of those who left Syria are citizens of Russia and the rest are from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. At least 70 out of the 128 on board are children.

In October last year due to security risks, the residency of the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Syria was temporarily moved to Beirut, where the embassy is also accredited.

Clashes between government forces and armed opposition have continued in Syria for over two years. According to the UN statistics, the total number of victims of the conflict in Syria exceeds 70,000 people and nearly three million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Syrian authorities say they are opposed to the well-armed militants.