Russia evacuates scientists from Iran to Azerbaijan amid rising tensions with Israel

Russia has evacuated a group of 14 scholars from Iran to Azerbaijan, as regional tensions intensify due to the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.

The Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education confirmed the evacuation in a statement to Interfax, noting that the scientists had been participating in a Russian-Iranian BRICS conference when hostilities broke out, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

“The group of 14 Russian international relations scholars has been safely evacuated from the zone of the Iran-Israel conflict,” the ministry stated.

The delegation included senior researchers from institutions under the ministry’s jurisdiction, such as Vasily Kuznetsov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Yevdokiya Dobreva, a junior researcher from the IMEMO RAS (Institute of World Economy and International Relations).

“Following the outbreak of hostilities, the scholars were moved to the Russian Embassy compound and, today, were transported out of the country via Azerbaijan,” the ministry said.

This follows earlier reports that Russian nationals employed in Iran’s oil sector—along with their family members—were also evacuated to Azerbaijan through the Astara border crossing.

By Aghakazim Guliyev