Ongoing quarantine measures imposed by North Korean authorities to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus have left foreign embassies in Pyongyang unable to properly perform their duties and effectively cut off from the outside world, Russia's ambassador to the DPRK was quoted as having said Thursday.

Writing in an op-ed for Russia's TASS news agency, Ambassador Alexander Matsegora said that while he would not compare the situation to "a blockade," a total of 254 Russian citizens were currently in North Korea, under quarantine and "forced to stay in their places of residence."