Russian planes to bring 500 evacuees out of Afghanistan

Russia is sending four military transport planes to Afghanistan to rescue more than 500 people from different countries.

In addition to Russians, citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan will be taken out of Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said, as cited by state news agency TASS.

According to the report, medical personnel and supplies including water, food and blankets have been assembled at a military base in Ulyanovsk on the Volga River.

Moscow has long been in negotiations with the militant Islamist Taliban, which is banned in Russia as a terrorist organization.

The Russian embassy in Kabul will not be evacuated, according to earlier statements by the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.