— What is the International Committee of the Red Cross and how does it differ from the National Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent?

— The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was established over 150 years ago on the initiative of the Swiss businessman Henri Dunant.

In 1859, he was driving through the battlefield near the village of Solferino, in Italy, where the battle had just ended, and saw a lot of wounded who needed help.

Then he decided that it was necessary to do everything possible to help the victims of conflicts.

A little later, he wrote the book "Memories of the Battle of Solferino", where he outlined his ideas.

Dunant created an organization, which later became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross, to provide assistance and protection to victims of armed conflicts.

There are also National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies, each country has such an organization.

There is the Russian Red Cross, with which we work closely.

What is the function of the ICRC?

— The International Committee of the Red Cross works in four main areas.

The first is conflict prevention and training in international humanitarian law (IHL. -

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), which helps prevent its violations.

After World War II, four Geneva Conventions were adopted.

And I can proudly say that they have been signed and ratified by 196 states.

At first, the IHL documents concerned only the military, then prisoners of war were added there, and later civilians.

The second direction is the protection of those who find themselves in difficult situations due to conflicts.

This includes restoring family ties, visiting places of detention in agreement with the parties in whose power they are, promoting respect for IHL.

The third direction is the actual humanitarian assistance to those who lose their homes, do not have access to food, water, medical care.

And the fourth direction is interaction with the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for more effective coordination and assistance to people who are in dire need of it.

— The ICRC exists on donations.

Who donates to the organization?

What is Russia's contribution to this?

What is the contribution of Ukraine?

- The main contribution to the activities of the ICRC comes voluntarily from governments.

There are also contributions made by individuals and corporations.

Donations of the latter are subject to a thorough check to make sure that these corporations are not involved, for example, in the arms trade or other activities that are contrary to our principles.

As for the budget, for 2022 it is 2.1 billion Swiss francs.

Russia has always been one of the countries that voluntarily donated to the Red Cross.

Since 2017, donations to Russia amounted to 1 million Swiss francs annually. 

Assistance in the activities of the ICRC is not only financial, but also substantive, depending on the needs of the organization.

On the part of Ukraine, this was mainly substantive.

In addition, countries support the committee “politically”, incorporating the norms laid down in the Geneva Conventions into their national laws so that they comply with international law.

The support that Russia provides to the International Committee of the Red Cross is very important.

Our relations with the Russian Federation are close and dynamic.



— Do your activities include negotiating a ceasefire and investigating war crimes?

“We often encounter misinterpretations of our mission.

We provide assistance and protection to the victims of conflict, we promote international humanitarian law, but we do not participate in peace negotiations.

We can ask for a short-term ceasefire for a humanitarian operation.

But we are not negotiating to end the conflict. 

The ICRC does not investigate war crimes.

There are special institutions that deal with this.

We also don't judge people, that's what courts are for.


- Can Red Cross officers be witnesses at a war crimes trial?

- A very interesting question.

The ICRC has a clear and long-established practice of not interfering in legal proceedings and not disclosing what we discover in the course of our work.

This works in all contexts wherever we operate.

The ICRC documents its observations during its visits to conflict-affected areas.

If we see violations of IHL, we share this information directly with the parties to the conflict.

These conversations are confidential, which allows us to be direct and frank.

The information we collect cannot and will not be shared with anyone else, including the International Criminal Court or any other court.

Our role is strictly humanitarian.

This is recognized in the ICRC rules, which establish the ICRC's privilege of not disclosing information and exempt our staff from being called as witnesses.

But this does not mean that we are accomplices: we talk about these issues, only not in the public space, but directly with the parties to the conflict.

And only with them.

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Almost 160 years of experience have taught us to strictly adhere to the principles of neutrality and impartiality.

It is very important.

This allows access to people in these very sensitive moments, access to places that are often inaccessible to journalists.

And this is recognized by all countries.

It is therefore important that ICRC delegates not be called as witnesses.

We must earn the trust of all parties.

And when testimonies are given, it means that the ICRC is taking sides.

But this does not mean that we are indifferent to what is happening.

It is important for us that, through trust, we have the opportunity to help all parties and discuss with them certain violations that we ourselves observe on the battlefields, in the treatment of civilians.

We are becoming the first instance that can influence these violations, study them and report them to the authorities,

to prevent their recurrence.

Sometimes such a dialogue can be very difficult and sensitive.

But thanks to the trust in our organization, we have the opportunity to lead it. 

- How do you manage to remain neutral in a situation where each side is convinced that the truth is on its side?

- Not easy.

And it's even harder to explain our approach to people.

In a situation where there is a conflict and it is difficult to even imagine what people are going through, it is very difficult to accept the role of a neutral organization.

We very rarely make public statements.

But when we do them, they concern only our activity.

And often such a position is perceived as indifference to what is happening.

Emotionally, sometimes it is very difficult for us to remain silent when we are criticized.

But we know from the many years of experience of our predecessors that in the end it brings its result.

And this is our main thesis.

Therefore, open interaction with journalists is extremely important for us.

And we welcome the opportunity to speak about the activities of the ICRC.

This not only helps to avoid misunderstandings.

It supports our work.

- In the media, the committee is accused of espionage, the delivery of weapons, humanitarian aid and cash to the military.

Did such cases really take place in the work of the Red Cross?

- Not.

We do none of this.

But such accusations sometimes appear in the media - sometimes in one context, sometimes in another.

If you ask me if someone with malicious intent could use the emblem of the Red Cross and try to spy on our behalf, we cannot completely rule out this chance. 


We don't deliver weapons.

Weapons are not allowed in ICRC vehicles.


If you see vehicles marked with a red cross or red crescent delivering weapons, then the emblem is being misused.

The side effect of this is huge.

This undermines the credibility of the protective emblem, which in many cases plays a key role in saving lives.

The price of such abuse is very high.

I'll explain.

There is a table knife: they can spread butter or injure a person.

Is the knife to blame for being used with malicious intent?

Same with the emblem. 

The reality of armed conflict is that whoever you are, you will not be able to deviate one meter from the agreed route.

Whoever you are, you will not pass any checkpoints unless it is agreed upon, your documents are not checked and there is no order to let you through.

In such places, we are in close contact with the military and representatives of various armed groups, who have agreed to receive us there and actually authorize our movements.

They let us through and sometimes they don't let us through because of the security situation.

And when we are given a “red light”, we are also grateful to those who control the territory, because this is a manifestation of concern for our safety and, first of all, for the safety of the people we are going to help.

- Such situations, as I understand it, are possible for various reasons.

These may be staging, there may be forceful seizures, or there may be unscrupulous mission employees.

Do you conduct your internal investigations in cases where someone uses the Red Cross in their own interests?

— Situations can be different.

Let me give you a few examples to clarify.

For example, I worked in Darfur in 2004-2005, when the situation there was very difficult.

And there was a case when armed people stopped our car, dropped us off and took away the car with the emblem, drove away in it.

We didn't have a chance to remove our stickers.

And while we walked to our camp, two days passed.

At this time, the car could be used as you like.

Now such a car could get on camera, and someone would see armed people in the car.

This could be blamed on the Red Cross.

Another example.

There was a civil war in Sierra Leone for ten years, there was no infrastructure, people lived in terrible conditions, there was not enough drinking water.

And we decided to help people with equipment so that they can get their own water by digging wells.

This would help to improve the sanitary situation.

We handed out shovels to people, and the next day we saw the headline in the newspaper: "The International Committee of the Red Cross helps people dig for diamonds."

They do mine diamonds there.

And one of those who got a shovel started digging for diamonds.

He told reporters about it.

And it was published. 

We select our employees carefully, and we have our own internal division that makes sure that we work in accordance with the principles of the Red Cross.

- In case of detection of any misuse of the emblem of the Red Cross, can I contact you?

— If you will allow me, I would say: it is necessary.

— How many employees of the Red Cross are currently working in Russia, how many in Ukraine?

- Today, about 20 thousand people work in the Red Cross in more than 90 countries of the world.

We carefully select our employees.

We make sure that there are no manifestations of racism, gender imbalance, that there is no abuse on the part of the leadership.

With each incident, the organization responds as quickly as possible, learns from experience so that this does not happen again.

As far as I know, the situation is rapidly changing, about 900 people are now working in the territory affected by the conflict.

The delegation, located in Moscow, works on the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, has about 100 people.

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On the territory of the Russian Federation, we cooperate very closely with the Russian Red Cross.

They have 85 regional branches, including Rostov, Kursk, Voronezh and other regions.

They know the area well.

And together with them we carry out humanitarian activities there.

We do not participate either here, or on the territory of Ukraine, or in other countries in forced evacuations of the population not agreed with the parties.

- For a long time, Azovstal and the Azov battalion were at the center of the information agenda.

We saw ICRC vehicles during the evacuation of civilians who were on Azovstal.

How does the ICRC assess the situation? 

— Media attention is now really focused on the situation around Azovstal.

The parties turned to us as a neutral and impartial mediator.

In early May, three operations were organized to safely exit the territory of Azovstal.

More than 600 people were taken from the territory of Azovstal, Mariupol and its environs to Zaporozhye.

Our role there was to make sure people were treated right. 

ICRC vehicles moved ahead and behind the convoy.

An ICRC team of ten employees was involved in negotiations with the authorities at various checkpoints.

They helped people leaving the factory board buses and ambulances, and provided some basic necessities like water and something to eat.

It was important to build trusting communication and give confidence to people who went through very difficult moments.

- At the moment, there are many Russian soldiers in captivity.

There is evidence that people from the DPR and LPR have been in captivity for many years.

What is being done to help them?

- We were asked a lot about whether we visit Russian prisoners of war, and now we can publicly declare that yes, we also visit Russian prisoners of war.

We visit prisoners of war belonging to all parties to the conflict to notify hundreds of families of the fate of their loved ones. 


We share the concern for the fate of all those affected by the conflict that began on the territory of Ukraine in 2014.

Delegates of the ICRC visited places of detention and persons deprived of their liberty in connection with the conflict on the territory of Ukraine.

The purpose of such visits is to support the administrations of places of detention in ensuring proper living conditions for all detainees, to promote respectful treatment of them, and to maintain their contacts with their families.

From 2015 to the end of 2021, more than 390 direct aid actions were carried out with a value of more than 6 million Swiss francs.

This was done in the interests of tens of thousands of prisoners and prison administrations under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

The ICRC also visited 22 places of detention in territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government. 

- The surge of nationalism in Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR is largely based on the fact that before that, during perestroika, fascist accomplices began to come to their homeland, who fled with them with the help of the Red Cross to Latin America.

Are you aware of this?

— The ICRC has an open door policy for those who study the role of our organization in the Second World War and in the post-war period.

In the 1990s, after receiving lists of aliases under which war criminals and high-ranking Nazis arrived in Argentina, ICRC researchers found that at least ten of them had fraudulently obtained our travel documents.


Unfortunately, life shows that, having bad intentions, people can find a loophole and use any good initiative.

Some Nazi criminals shamelessly abused the humanitarian service, which was used by more than half a million people, mostly former concentration camp prisoners and refugees from Eastern Europe.

The massive population displacement caused by World War II left hundreds of thousands of people undocumented and some without citizenship.

Many wanted to start a new life on another continent.

The ten Nazis who were able to deceive the organization cannot be compared to the tens of thousands who went through nightmare and horror, who were eventually able to start a new life thanks to the help of the ICRC.