MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Moscow reaffirms its recommendation for Russian citizens to refrain from any trips to Yemen, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website on Friday.
"We confirm the Russian Foreign Ministry recommendation for Russian citizens published earlier that they should refrain from any trips to Yemen," the ministry said.
"The Russian embassy to Sana'a has taken additional measures to ensure security of its employees, who are actively facilitating the normalization of the situation in Yemen through contacts with various political forces of the country," it said.
Russia "calls on all Yemeni parties to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could worsen the situation," the ministry said.
"We presume that it is important for the leading Yemeni political forces, including the Ansar Allah movement, to start an inclusive dialogue dealing with the most important aspects of the internal Yemeni agenda and work out commonly agreed schemes of governing the state," it said.
Moscow is convinced that "stronger external pressure, including sanctions, on the parties to the political process in Yemen would be counterproductive," it said.
It was reported earlier that Italy and Germany had decided to suspend the operations of their diplomatic missions to Yemen for security reasons in February.
The U.S., the UK, and France had announced the closure of their embassies to Yemen earlier on Friday.
Insurgents from the Shia clan of Houthi seized power in Yemen last week. In an address to the nation, the new rulers announced the parliament's dissolution and the establishment of a transitional council.
Yemeni President Abd Rabuh Mansur Hadi and the Cabinet resigned after the Shia rebels virtually seized the capital city of Sana'a following fierce fighting.