MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax) - Moscow hopes to clear every obstacle to the evacuation of Russian citizens from Gaza soon, and it stands ready for the evacuation but this depends on Israel's stance, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"I can confirm that at least in the past four days our ambassador to Israel, Mr. [Anatoly] Viktorov has been assured and promised by the Israeli side that permission will be granted tomorrow, and that was done by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. They have been saying so for the past four days, or maybe longer. This happens despite the fact that we raised the question long before those four days," Zakharova said at a press briefing on Thursday.
"The lists were composed and handed over to the Egyptian side and the Israeli side," she said.
"Why is this happening? I ask you to direct that question to the Israeli side. They have assured us that they will unblock the situation in the near future. However, this has been going on for the past four days," Zakharova said.
"This has been a matter of the Israeli stance for quite a long time. Hopefully, all of those [obstacles] will be overcome and cleared," she said.
"We are prioritizing the evacuation of Russian citizens and everyone who has contacted us from there, and we have everything ready for that," Zakharova said.