Kiev’s human rights ombudsman has claimed the body’s Moscow branch provides aid to military personnel and their families
The Red Cross should expel its Russian affiliate over its fundraising efforts to support the families of mobilized reservists and allegedly the reservists themselves, a senior Ukrainian official insisted on Tuesday.
Dmitry Lubinets, who holds the post of commissioner for human rights in Ukraine’s parliament, accused the Russian Red Cross of backing the partial mobilization, which was announced by President Vladimir Putin last month. By providing assistance to the mobilization efforts, the organization “supports a bloody war” in Ukraine, he added.
As a result, Lubinets claimed that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, should expel their Russian branch and strip it of its signature emblem.
The official went on to stress that “social protection of the families of military personnel who went to war in a foreign independent and sovereign country cannot be humane,” adding that this would only “increase the number of civilians who will be tortured and killed in Ukraine.”
His comments come a day after the Ukrainian Red Cross accused its Russian counterpart of “repeatedly violating the principle of neutrality” by helping Moscow’s military personnel. It urged its international partners to “take strict measures” to stop such actions.
In early October, the Russian Red Cross announced “centralized fundraising” to provide humanitarian aid to the families of Russian service members, including those who had been mobilized.
In a statement, Pavel Savchuk, the organization’s chair, noted that “the families of the mobilized citizens are now facing a number of difficulties,” given that many worry about their loved ones who are now involved in the conflict. Some people may also be in need of financial or humanitarian aid, he added.
“Therefore, it is very important to support them now,” he stressed.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a global humanitarian organization of 80 million people that helps those facing disaster, conflict and health and social problems. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is part of the movement, has been working in Ukraine since 2014, after Viktor Yanukovich, the nation’s democratically elected president, was overthrown following violent riots in Kiev, which triggered an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com
