Manama, March 6 (BNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it is in constant contact with Bahraini citizens present in Ukraine in order to ensure their safety and to guide them on ways to facilitate their departure from Ukrainian lands.
At the beginning of the military operations, the number of Bahraini citizens and residents in Ukraine reached 32, and the ministry was able to facilitate the exit of nine of them through safe ports in cooperation and coordination with embassies in the capital, Kyiv.
The ministry said in a statement, in response to media reports, that the consular services sector received on February 27 a request from a citizen to obtain a transit ticket for his son with his mother who is currently in Ukraine.
The Ministry has coordinated with the Bahrain Embassy in Berlin to give the child a travel ticket to facilitate his return to Bahrain with his guardian, except for the conditions and criteria directed to such cases, in light of the exceptional circumstances that citizens stranded in Ukraine are going through.
The embassy in Germany issued the necessary tickets, and contacted the parents of the child to make sure they had the required documents.
The Embassy also contacted the mother of the child who is in Ukraine to inform her of the available means of travel in the current circumstances – the train from within Ukraine to the border crossings, as all possible outbound flights.
However, the mother refused to travel by train and preferred to stay with her Ukrainian family for the time being.
In the case of the family of eight, the ministry stressed that it is in constant contact with the family and asked them to leave before the security situation in Ukraine intensifies in order to preserve their safety.
On March 4, the family requested a special permit to leave Ukraine through the Russian border, since the distance is only 60 kilometers from their place of residence.
The Bahraini embassy in Moscow submitted the request to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and is still waiting for the approval of the relevant Russian authorities.
The ministry said that the Bahraini honorary consul in Belarus is in constant contact with the family to guide them and urge them to get out through safe roads and corridors.
The ministry added that it is in constant contact with the family to follow up on facilitating their exit through the train stations provided by the Ukrainian government free of charge to transport civilians.
Unfortunately, the family rejected the proposal and insisted on providing a private bus or traveling across the Russian border.
The ministry said that it will continue, through diplomatic means, to follow up on the family’s situation, and will make every effort to facilitate their departure from Ukraine in light of the tense security conditions there.