BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 14. I wanted to express my gratitude to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for the unprecedented assistance in crossing the border between Iran and Azerbaijan, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, filmmaker Fyodor Bondarchuk said in an interview with CBC, Trend reports.
He made the remark during the evacuation of foreign nationals across the Iran-Azerbaijan border.
"In fact, everyone helped. I must say about the Russian embassy in Tehran and the consulate. We were brought to practically the door and the border," he said.
Bondarchuk also expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
"There are 90 people in the group, all alive and healthy. They are now crossing the border. Some of them will leave today, some of them will stay in Baku and leave a little later. We are all a little tired," Bondarchuk said.
In the early hours of June 13, Israel launched air strikes on Iranian territory. The strikes resulted in the deaths of numerous high-ranking military officials, including Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters Gholamali Rashid, six nuclear scientists, and several senior officials.
In response, on the evening of the same day, Iran launched what it called Operation True Promise III, firing over 150 ballistic missiles and more than 100 unmanned aerial vehicles toward Israel, including Tel Aviv. The attack caused civilian casualties and widespread destruction.