Russia suspends diplomatic presence in Yemen

MOSCOW: Russia has halted its diplomatic presence in Yemen and its embassy staff have left the country amid the deepening conflict between the government and Huthi rebels, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

“Considering the situation in Sanaa, a decision has been taken to temporarily suspend Russia’s diplomatic presence in Yemen. All employees of the Russian embassy have left the country,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told AFP.

“The Russian ambassador and some of the Russian diplomatic corps accredited in Yemen will carry out their duties in Riyadh,” she added.Russian ambassador Vladimir Dedushkin had already been working from Riyadh since last year and Moscow warned last week that Yemen risks spiralling into “military-political chaos”.

More than 8,750 people have been killed since Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the government’s fight against the Huthis in 2015, triggering what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Russia has previously expressed concern about the strikes by the Saudi-led coalition, which killed 26 people at the weekend, following the killing of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh at the hands of the Huthis.

Russia begins partial withdrawal from Syria: The first Russian troops returned home on Tuesday from their deployment in Syria, the army said, beginning a partial withdrawal announced by President Vladimir Putin.

“The battalion of military police from the southern military district (of Russia) deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic has been flown by two military planes to Makhachkala (the capital of Dagestan) airport,” the Russian army said in a statement.

State television broadcasted images of soldiers marching out of the aircraft onto a sunny runway in the small republic in Russia‘s North Caucasus. The crews of Tu-22M3 bombers also returned to a military airport in North Ossetia before flying out to their permanent base in central Kaluga region, the army said.The crew of an A-50 surveillance aircraft flew back to their home base in Ivanovo region where they were met by commanding officers and relatives.