Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has announced that the Hungarians who have requested help from the Hungarian government to leave Kazakhstan are being evacuated as planned.
The minister said the evacuees arrived in Budapest on Monday evening aboard an aircraft of the Hungarian military. Hungary’s diplomatic representations have been in contact with some 100 Hungarians in Kazakhstan since the beginning of unrest in that country, he said, adding that altogether 12 of them asked for help to leave. Five people were rescued from Almaty last week, while six are being evacuated now and one person, holding dual citizenship, decided to stay in Almaty, Minister Szijjártó said.
Under a recent agreement with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, the six Hungarians are leaving Almaty on board a Russian aircraft. They will land near Moscow later in the day, and will be picked up by the Hungarian military plane, Minister Szijjártó added. The Hungarian government offered its assistance to the Kazakh state last week, he said, adding that on Tuesday foreign ministers of the Turkic Council, in which Hungary has observer status, will hold a video conference on the subject.
Photo credit: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter