Ukrainian representatives have criticized the decision. The leaked documents revealed how the aid organization has also participated in the military training of children in Russia.
The Russian Red Cross is not separated from the activities of the international organization. The resignation has been demanded since several media revealed in March that the Russian Red Cross promoted Kremlin propaganda.
The Russian Red Cross has also participated in the organization of military training camps for children. In the camps, elementary school children have been taught, for example, close combat skills and the use of weapons such as Kalashnikov assault rifles.
On Monday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) made a decision in Geneva, Switzerland, not to shelve the Russian Red Cross. British newspaper According to The Guardian the decision was made after four days of meetings.
The aid organization’s international umbrella organization has avoided questions related to the topic and mostly contented itself with pointing out that the claims presented in the media are being investigated.
However, the organization said that it demands the Russian Red Cross to provide an explanation of the “challenges” and “alleged abuses”.
Belarus was shelved, Russia was not
Close relations between the Kremlin and the Russian Red Cross have been maintained by the aid organization’s 29-year-old director Pavel Savchuk. He has also been active in the Putin-supporting All-Russian People’s Front (ONF), which is on the EU sanctions list.
ONF’s trademark is the offensive war symbol Z, and it supplies Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
The activities of the international umbrella organization of the Red Cross do not seem to be completely coherent. At the end of 2023, the activities of the Belarusian Red Cross as part of the international organization were shelved.
The reason was that the head of the Belarusian Red Cross Dzmitri Shautsou had told that the organization participated in the transportation of Ukrainian children from the areas occupied by Russia in Ukraine to Belarus. Belarus supports Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.
In Ukraine, the decision not to shelve the Russian Red Cross was criticized.
– IFRC has become a defender of the Russian Red Cross, which in turn supports Russia’s actions in Ukraine, said the country’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets According to The Guadian.