The Egyptian ambassador to Russia, Nazih El-Nagri, held a video meeting with the sailors on Saturday CAIRO: The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday that a group of Egyptian sailors stranded aboard a commercial ship in the Ukrainian port of Kherson had been evacuated to Russia. The ministry stated that contact with Russian authorities via the embassy in Moscow succeeded in securing the evacuation of 11 Egyptian sailors. The Egyptian ambassador to Russia, Nazih El-Nagri, held a video meeting with the sailors on Saturday, during which he assured them that the embassy was working on their return home in the coming days. On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the evacuation of 188 people from several countries, including two other Arab countries, from Kherson in southern Ukraine to Russia. “Yesterday, soldiers of the Southern Military District organized the safe transfer of 188 citizens from Russia, Moldova, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine from (the) Kherson Province of Ukraine to Russian territory,” the ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, the Russian military organized buses and private cars, securing the evacuees’ passage to Russian territory. The evacuation was carried out in response to requests from foreign embassies to help ensure the safe transfer of their citizens from Ukrainian territories, as well as the requests of local residents submitted to the office of the Russian military commander in Kherson.