The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang plans to send home a large number of staff and family members this summer, multiple informed sources told NK News, further shrinking the skeletal international presence inside North Korea.

In what will be the embassy’s biggest staff exit since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, between one half and two-thirds of the remaining Russians affiliated with the embassy will return home, multiple sources said.

NK News understands that Ambassador Aleksandr Matsegora plans to remain in Pyongyang, however.

The embassy’s priority is to fly citizens directly to Russia from Pyongyang, two sources said, but North