Baku, Azerbaijan, June 14. Russian People’s
Artist, film director Fyodor Bondarchuk, has thanked the President
of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for his assistance in
evacuating Russian citizens from Iran, Trend reports.
“I want to thank President Ilham Aliyev for his unprecedented
assistance in crossing the border between Iran and Azerbaijan. In
fact, everyone helped. I should mention the Russian embassy in
Tehran and the consulate. They brought us practically to the door
and the border,” he told reporters during the evacuation of
citizens of foreign countries across the Iranian-Azerbaijani
border.
He also expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Culture of
Russia.
“There are 90 people in the group, all alive and well. They are
now crossing the border. Some of them will fly out today, some will
stay in Baku and fly out a little later. We are all a little
tired,” Bondarchuk added.
In the early hours of June 13, Israel launched air strikes on
Iranian territory. The strikes resulted in the deaths of numerous
high-ranking military officials, including Chief of the General
Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri,
Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Hossein Salami, Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters
Gholamali Rashid, six nuclear scientists, and several senior
officials.
In response, on the evening of the same day, Iran launched what
it called Operation True Promise III, firing over 150 ballistic
missiles and more than 100 unmanned aerial vehicles toward Israel,
including Tel Aviv. The attack caused civilian casualties and
widespread destruction.