The Chinese city of Wuhan, which became the hotbed of a novel coronavirus epidemic, was very deserted during the lockdown, and it was possible to get out of it only with the assistance of the Russian authorities. Konstantin Nevezhkin and Maxim Tsygankov, the first secretaries of the Russian embassy in China, spoke about this in a conversation with RIA Novosti.
Diplomats exactly one year ago, after the first closure of Wuhan, went to the infected city to evacuate the Russians there. They said that at the entrance to the city they noticed a complete absence of cars, and that there was not a soul at the airport where they decided to gather their fellow citizens.
At first, it was impossible to return to Beijing by car: the local authorities were going to quarantine the employees of the Russian Foreign Ministry along with the entire city.
“We waited seven hours for the decision of the Wuhan local administration, which had extraordinary powers, that is, even the central government did not have full imperative influence, it could not say: do this. It was necessary to negotiate, the Foreign Ministry could only recommend to the government of Wuhan, ”Tsygankov said.
The diplomats said that even if they had such knowledge about the danger of the virus as it is now, they would still go to Wuhan to free their compatriots.
