Is it true that the Red Cross helps Russia forcibly evacuate Ukrainians?

Many Ukrainian sources claim that the International Red Cross Committee allegedly participated in the forced resettlement of Ukrainians to Russia. We checked whether this is really so.

Messages, The accusing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of the violent evacuation of Ukrainians to Russia began to appear at the end of March 2022. As evidence Internet users I referred on report On the evacuation of the inhabitants of Donbass to Russia, published on the website of the International Federation of the Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Some Ukrainian media They said: "The International Committee of the Red Cross admitted that he contributed to the deportation of Ukrainians to Russia." Many users of social networks Demanded Explanations at the ICRC, Called the organization’s donors to withdraw their donations, and also launched petition With the requirements to investigate the actions of the ICK in Ukraine. On the day of publication of this analysis, the petition was signed by more than 5,000 people.

To begin with, we will understand the arrangement of related organizations related to the name “Red Cross”, and then with the possible involvement of each of them in the forced evacuation of Ukrainians. The general term for the entire humanitarian association is the international movement of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. The movement includes national societies Red cross and red crescent, MKKK and the International Federation of Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (MFKKKP).

National societies act as assistants to the state authorities of their countries in the humanitarian sphere. Such societies in the world 192, including Red Cross of Ukraine (KKU) and Russian Red Cross (RKK). National societies act exclusively in their country and do not negotiate with other states on cooperation, humanitarian aid or opening offices in neighboring countries. During the war, they provide assistance to the injured civilian population and sometimes medical services of the army.

The scandal with violent evacuation touched KKU. Many users of social networks urged to stop sacrificing money to society and Demanded Conduct an investigation of KKU's expenditure in order to find out whether the funds intended for Ukraine were spent in Russia. In this regard, KKU Published The statement, in which he reminded of his autonomy and disowned the actions of the ICRC. Perhaps the distrust of Ukrainians in KKU is partly caused by the fact that in 2016, journalists, activists and volunteers of the Red Cross exposed Corruption schemes in the organization.

Another participant in the movement is the ICKK. Target This organization is helping people who have suffered from armed conflicts and violence. All negotiations (for example, on opening Humanitarian corridors or Exchange of prisoners) It leads the ICRC, it can also act as a neutral mediator to solve humanitarian problems. The organization characterizes combat operations in Ukraine as a conflict and did not publish statements that clearly condemn or support Russia's actions. The neutral position allows the Committee to receive donations from organizations and individuals who do not want to take someone else's side.

Wave Critics Ukrainian media addressed to the ICRC. visit To Moscow, President Peter Maurer to negotiate with the Government of the Russian Federation on the opening of the ICRC office in Rostov-on-Don. Media They accused Committee in the Combination of Russia. Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights He performed Against the opening of this office. And the chairman of the parliamentary committee on health of the nation Mikhail Radutsky wrote An open letter to the ICRC with a request not to open the point of receiving Ukrainian refugees in Rostov-on-Don, because this step is legitimized by Russian corridors of the export of refugees, which were repeatedly Rejected Ukrainian authorities.

Press Secretary of the ICRC in Ukraine Alexander Vlasenko He called it Accusations against the organization are groundless. According to press release, before going to Moscow, Maurer visited Ukraine, met with the leadership of the country and discussed all issues. Vlasenko added: “The issue of opening an office in Rostov was only discussed, there is no office yet. He was once there, but he was closed in 2019, and whether they will open now, I don’t know. We wanted to open an office there to have more operational access to prisoners of war. We are obliged to provide assistance to people wherever they are. ” MKKK too Refuted Accusations of violent deportations explained the desire to open an office in Russia with the need to deliver help to where it is needed. As a result, it is still unknown whether the ICRC will open an office in Rostov-on-Don.

There are those who supported the opening of the office. Author of post in the Ukrainian blog Writes: “I think, precisely in order to help the Ukrainians forcibly exported to Russia, the ICRC opens its mission in Rostov-on Don. Those who are dissatisfied with: can you help Ukrainians taken to Russia? And the ICKK can. Will they not come there under yellow-blue flags? Yes. But they will come. And they will be accepted. It is because of their neutrality. Because of their "both ours and yours", which is so outraged by you. "

Finally, the third element of the movement of the Red Cross is the MFKKIKP. The Federation supports national societies, and also helps during peacetime crises, for example, during natural disasters. It was on the website of the Federation that the EVACUATION OF PEOPLE FROM DONBASS Area to Russia was published. Now the document has been deleted, but in the media and social networks have been preserved Excerpts from the report And Screenshots. According to the report, “relocation” in the Rostov and other regions of Russia began on February 18, 2022. In three days, 61,000 people were taken out of the Donbass, mainly women, children and pensioners. He led the relocation of the RKK. By words one of Twitter users - Finnish journalist and director Nina Pulkkis -, a report on the website of the MFKKKP can be published by any person with a personal account. She claims that she requested a comment and received an answer to the MFKKKP: this was not an official report, and the person who published it himself deleted it. We tried to contact Pulkkis, as well as the press service of the MFKKKP, but at the time of publication of this analysis we have not yet received an answer.

So where did the charges of violent evacuation come from? At the end of March Ukrainian Media And Officials They reported the forced evacuation of the inhabitants of Ukraine, but not by the Red Cross, but by Russian troops. By words The Ukrainian Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova, the Russian side illegally took out about 400,000 Ukrainians. “Our citizens were deported from our territory to their territory. They left not of their own free will, they were forcibly taken to the filtration camp in the Donetskin. After that, they are taken by bus to Russia. Then, by train, they are taken to different places, in particular to the depressive regions of the Russian Federation like Sakhalin, ”she said.

In these camps, according to some sources, a deep -deep personal check passes. “They select phones, Ukrainian documents and give out a kind of Ausweis (certificates issued by the German occupation authorities during the Great Patriotic War. - Approx. Ed.). According to this Ausvayis, those whom the invaders consider to be better off, they can get to the territory of the Russian Federation, ”said Tatyana Ignatchenko-Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Donetsk military-civil administration.

By words Deputy Mayor of Mariupol Sergey Orlov, the Russian military intimidate the townspeople to agree to go to Russia: “Russian soldiers simply open the shelter and tell them:“ You have five minutes to evacuate in this direction. Just go, go 3–5–7 km, and the buses will transfer you to the temporarily controlled territory. If you do not leave, this house will be bombed through the house. Hour "". Foreign Ministry of Ukraine Published Tips for those who were forcibly taken to Russia. There is and interview witnesses of such evacuation.

Regardless of whether such statements and evidence are true, the Red Cross has no direct relation to them. Perhaps the indignant Ukrainian community has the reason to blame KKU of corruption, the ICRC - in continuation of the dialogue with Russia and the refusal to disrupt neutrality, the MFOCKP - in the publication of statistics on the number of evacuated Ukrainians. But from all this it does not follow that any of the Red Cross organizations was involved in violent evacuation. Apparently, according to the logic of the authors of indictment, if the Red Cross acted as a mediator in the coordination of humanitarian corridors, and then the Russian army forcibly withdrew Ukrainian residents over them, then it automatically became an accomplice in the crime.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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3. Is it true that the Odessa administration issued a written order not to release the civilian population from the city for humanitarian corridors?