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, TurkicWorld 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.
