Greece will not evacuate diplomats from Ukraine

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba during a visit to Ukraine that the agency does not plan to evacuate Greek diplomats and their families, the press service reports.

Earlier, the information service of the Greek Foreign Ministry reported that Dendias visited on Monday the cities of Sartana and Mariupol in the part of Donbass controlled by Kiev. He met with local officials and the Greek diaspora. The message of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry says:

“Kuleba had a conversation with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who said that the Greek side is closely monitoring the situation and believes that there are currently no grounds for premature decisions. Greece does not plan to evacuate diplomats or members of their families, nor does it call on Greek citizens and Ukrainians of Greek origin to leave Ukraine. At the same time, the Greek government is ready to continue to effectively help the Greek community in Ukraine.”

The press service also quotes the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmitry Kuleba, on the eve of the visit of Mr. Dendias:

“Last year, I called on all partners to visit Ukraine in January-February 2022 as a sign of support for our state during security threats from the Russian Federation. The permanent presence of distinguished foreign guests in Ukraine reduces tension. I appreciate that the head of Greek diplomacy also responded to this call and will soon visit Ukraine.”

Earlier, the United States decided to leave some of its diplomats from Kiev. The US State Department allowed the voluntary departure from Ukraine from January 23 of part of the staff of the US embassy in Kiev and members of the families of diplomats. Meanwhile, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, noted that the EU countries are not going to evacuate diplomatic missions from Ukraine, and urged not to dramatize the situation, reports RIA News.

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