Bahrain Foreign Affairs Ministry ‘in touch’ with citizens in Ukraine

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in frequent touch with all Bahrainis stranded in Ukraine and this information was confirmed by a senior ministry official to The Daily Tribune today.    

“The ministry is in touch with Bahraini citizens present and residing in Ukraine, and have been in constant contact with them to ensure their safety and guide them to ways to facilitate their departure from Ukrainian territory and return to the Kingdom,” the official said.  

In a statement issued earlier, the ministry said that it has begun evacuating several citizens and residents in coordination with the Kingdom’s missions located in Berlin and Moscow, in addition to the Kingdom’s consulate in Belarus, and cooperation with missions of Gulf Cooperation Council countries in Ukraine.  

“The ministry is working to find safe means for the exit of the citizens to the border crossings of neighbouring countries as soon as possible to preserve their security and safety. The ministry would also like to report that it successfully obtained temporary travel documents for the newborn children of Bahraini citizens married in Ukraine to facilitate their return.” 

The number of Bahraini citizens and residents in Ukraine at the start of the military operations was 32 and the ministry has been 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. 

Responding to media reports, the ministry explained that on February 27, the Consular Services Sector received a request from a citizen for a transit ticket for his son currently with his mother in Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement. 

“The ministry coordinated with the Bahrain Embassy in Berlin to grant the child a ticket to facilitate his return to Bahrain with his guardian in an exception to the conditions and criteria guiding such cases, given the exceptional circumstances through which citizens stranded in Ukraine are going.

“The embassy in Germany issued the necessary tickets and contacted the child's parents to ensure that they received the required documents.

“The embassy also contacted the child's mother who is in Ukraine to inform her on the available means of travel in the current circumstances - the train from within Ukraine to the border crossings, like all possible departures. However, the mother refused to travel by train and preferred to stay with her Ukrainian family for now.”

In the case of the family of eight, the ministry stressed that it is in constant communication with the family and that it asked them to leave before the security situation in Ukraine intensifies for the sake of their safety.

“On March 4, the family requested a special permit to leave Ukraine through the Russian border, as the distance is only 60 kilometres from their residence. Bahrain's Embassy in Moscow submitted the request to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and it is still waiting for the approval of the concerned Russian authorities. Bahrain's Honorary Consul to Belarus is in constant contact with the family to guide and urge them to exit through safe roads and corridors,” the ministry said.

The ministry added it is also 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 has rejected the proposal and insists on providing a private bus or travelling through the Russian borders.”

The ministry said it would continue, through diplomatic means, to follow up on the situation of the family, and will make all possible efforts to facilitate their departure from Ukraine in light of the tense security conditions there.