King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has approved sending a special airplane to evacuate Saudi nationals from Moscow because of the devastating forest fires that have severely affected some areas in Russia and resulted in the evacuation of the families of many Western diplomats. Ali Ja'far, Saudi Ambassador in Russia, said the embassy is currently communicating with the Russian authorities to obtain landing permission at Moscow airport for the Saudi plane. He said it is possible the plane will be delayed because of the poor visibility in Moscow. He said the embassy is following up on the latest developments and that a number of diplomats are currently in touch with Saudi nationals. He said there were those “who were not evacuated to St. Petersburg City as reported in some sections of the media”. There are about 80 Saudi nationals in Moscow. Al-Ja'far added that all Saudi nationals and members of the Saudi mission in Moscow are safe and secure. The worsening ecological situation in the Russian capital has prompted several countries to evacuate their embassy staff from Moscow, while other states recommended their nationals to postpone their visit to Russia. Austria, Bulgaria, Poland and Canada have evacuated some of their non-essential embassy employees and their families, while Germany temporarily closed the embassy and the consular department, the Ekho Moskvy radio station reported. Moscow has been hit by smog from nearby peat bog and forest fires mixed with pollutants for much of the last 14 days. The fires have been caused by a heat wave that has seen temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius. Recently, Moscow saw its worst air pollution in 2010, with carbon monoxide levels being 6.5 times more than maximum allowable concentrations. The concentration of other poisonous substances in the city air was nine times above the norm. Earlier the United States issued a warning to its citizens to “carefully consider” the risk of traveling to parts of Russia. Britain's Foreign Office has also advised “against all travel to specific regions of Russia, and against all but essential travel to other specific regions of Russia”. France, Bulgaria and Germany also cautioned their citizens against traveling to Moscow and other disaster-hit areas in Russia, according to Russia's RIA Novosti news website.
