Bulgarians should immediately leave the Middle East, the situation is on the verge of dramatic deterioration - this is what Acting Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Marin Raykov called for at a briefing.
He spoke to journalists shortly after US President Donald Trump announced that he was postponing all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a period of five days, dariknews.bg specified.
According to Raykov, a risk index of level five has been set for Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iran. This is a warning of the possibility that in the immediate future all options for evacuation by commercial and civil means may be suspended.
„We carried out a fairly massive evacuation of our citizens from the conflict zone in the Middle East only a few days ago, but the war is not over. We are in constant contact with our partners and allies, we are constantly analyzing the situation on the ground. We regret to say that this situation is currently becoming more complicated. Realistically, security conditions are on the verge of a dramatic deterioration. The risks to our fellow citizens in the region are about to become a threat. In other words, all our citizens who wish to leave the respective countries must do so immediately, while the airspace is still open and while the airports are still functioning. Every available commercial flight is an opportunity that is undesirable to miss," Raikov was categorical.
In his words, in a situation of closed airspace, the Bulgarian state cannot continue to send free evacuation flights for thousands of Bulgarian citizens who would ignore this warning.
Raikov called for not traveling to destinations with transfers at airports in the region: "I am just opening a parenthesis to say that there are 2,000 of them in the Emirates alone. We also advise Bulgarian citizens not to plan to use flights with transfers at airports in the region. This warning that we are sending today is important to be heard, both by our citizens who would plan a trip in this direction, and especially by citizens who are in the countries of this high-risk region."