“Victory on all fronts”: research shows how biased the Russian Red Cross is Cassis receives its counterpart from Laos

Research by a consortium of journalists shows the problematic role of the president of the Russian Red Cross. According to revelations published on Monday, which also involved Swiss media, Pavel Savtschuk is anything but neutral in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In general, the Russian Red Cross clearly positions itself on the side of the aggressor: in a New Year’s letter, a board member wished the Russian soldiers: “Victory, victory, victory on all fronts.”

This is how the president of the Russian branch of the Red Cross sat on the central staff of the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF), an organization that owns the trademark rights to the infamous Z symbol and led by Vladimir Putin himself. In addition, Savtschuk is said to be active in organizations “that raise money for Russian soldiers, help purchase drones and night vision goggles and insult Ukrainians as fascists and neo-Nazis,” writes the Tages-Anzeiger, which was involved in the investigation.

It is currently uncertain whether the international umbrella organization of the Red Cross, the IFRC, will take action against the president of the Russian Red Cross. The decision rests with the IFRC Board of Directors – Since June 2022, Pawel Sawtschuk in particular has been a member.

The Kremlin plans to expel the ICRC

Russian President Putin plans to expel the International Red Cross from the occupied Ukrainian territories and deploy the Russian Red Cross instead. This points to a data breach in the Kremlin. An internal document from December 2022 shows that the Russian government specifically plans to create four regional and 62 local branches. The Russian Red Cross should “replace” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as it is called. The order for this apparently comes directly from Russian ruler Putin – one comment explicitly states: “List of instructions from the President of the Russian Federation.”

Meanwhile, the ICRC makes it clear that Russia cannot simply establish its own Red Cross in the occupied territories. Only the ICRC and the Ukrainian Red Cross can operate in the areas. This has been the case to date. A takeover by the Russian Red Cross has not yet taken place, whose employees are not active in the occupied territories, said Ariane Bauer, regional director for Europe and Central Asia. The ICRC also has no knowledge of the Kremlin’s plans.

But there is already a local organization in the Donetsk region, the Donetsk Red Cross. The ICRC has been working with her for years. This emphasizes that these are not representatives of Russia, but rather gathered members of the local population.

However, the question is whether this will remain the case in the longer term. The Russian news agency Tass introduced a new ‘representative of the Russian Red Cross in Donetsk’ in June 2023 – a few months after the now leaked Kremlin document: Ekaterina Sukhacheva, a Russian. According to the ICRC, she registered the “local organization” of the Donetsk Red Cross in Russia in August 2023.

(rbu/lacquer)