Lubinets hands over to IFRC documents indicating number of violations in Russian Red Cross activities
Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets met with President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Kate Forbes, during which he handed over documents indicating a number of violations in the activities of the Russian Red Cross.
"We had a rather difficult conversation. On the one hand, I thanked the entire large family of the Red Cross, the national societies that help our Ukrainian Red Cross Society... Meanwhile, I handed over documents indicating that the Russian Red Cross violates the principles of neutrality, directly collects aid for the Russian military, which is a direct violation of the statute of the International Federation of the Red Cross," Lubinets said on a national telethon on Tuesday evening.
According to the Ombudsman, the transferred documents also contain direct evidence that the head of the Russian Red Cross directly cooperates with the so-called "director" of the "Artek children's center" in occupied Crimea.
"The direct assistance of the Russian Red Cross results from the fact that Ukrainian children illegally undergo there [in Artek] the so-called procedure of military training and re-education. That is, the Russian Red Cross directly takes part in the process of illegally changing the identification of Ukrainian children," Lubinets said.
He also said since 2014, the Russian Red Cross has been illegally using property that the national Ukrainian Red Cross had in Crimea.
According to Lubinets, the IFRC will create a separate special commission to investigate the activities of the Russian Red Cross, and based on the results of its activities, a decision will be made whether to suspend membership or expel Russia from the International Red Cross.