MOSCOW - Moscow has brought a planeload of Russians home from Syria after delivering humanitarian aid to the port city of Latakia, the Emergencies Ministry said on Wednesday.
Moscow says it does not plan a mass evacuation of the thousands of Russian living in Syria, but government planes have now flown nearly 300 people to Russia this year to allow them to escape the civil war there.
The ministry said the plane had 76 Russians on board as well as 27 citizens of neighboring countries, and that more such flights would be conducted as necessary.
Russia is a long-standing arms supplier to Damascus and maintains a naval facility in Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartous. It has been a staunch defender of President Bashar Assad throughout the two-year-old conflict.