RUSSIA – The second stage of evacuation of Russian personnel from Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has begun, according to the head of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexey Likhachev on Monday.

Speaking in an interview with the corporate newspaper Strana Rosatom, Likhachev said personnel security is “priority.”

“Our priority in the situation currently developing in Iran is to ensure the safety of the Russian personnel working on the construction of units No. 2 and No. 3 of the Bushehr NPP. That’s over 600 people. For obvious reasons, the main construction work at the site has been temporarily suspended,” he said.

At the same time, some of the personnel are involved in servicing and maintaining equipment in working order, as well as in completing those tasks that cannot be stopped immediately, he added.

“We have completed preparations for the second stage of optimizing the headcount, namely the evacuation of family members and part of the personnel to Russia. We will be moving them to a safe place in the near future,” Likhachev reported.

The head of Rosatom also noted that the company has organized a special hotline for communication between its workers in Iran and their relatives in Russia.

Commenting on the situation in the area of the Bushehr NPP, Likhachev said it is “difficult,” but no strikes on the station, construction site, or personnel residential settlements have been recorded.

According to him, President Vladimir Putin is personally involved in resolving issues related to ensuring the safety of Rosatom employees in Iran.

“I regularly inform the country’s leadership about the situation both at the site and within the workforce. I know that Russian President Vladimir Putin not only keeps the situation under control but also personally participates in resolving issues related to ensuring the safety of our employees,” Likhachev said.

Tension escalated across the region on Feb. 28 when the US and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran that have so far killed over 1,300 people, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has responded with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel as well as Gulf countries, which are home to US assets.