Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks during a meeting with President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer, Moscow, March 24, 2022
24 March 2022 14:03
606-24-03-2022
Mr President,
Dear Peter,
We are glad to see you. We consider your visit timely.
We appreciate our relationship with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has a long and positive history, involving various situations on our planet that require a humanitarian response.
We have gained experience of cooperation in various parts of the world. Now this experience needs to be applied, in particular, in connection with developments in Ukraine.
I will not dwell on the reasons for these developments. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken about them in detail. I have also covered this topic in contacts with our colleagues.
Unfortunately, the humanitarian situation in the east of the country has only worsened in the 8 years since the unconstitutional coup in Ukraine, since the hostilities by the radicals who came to power were stopped and the Minsk agreements were signed. Also, during the entire course of these 8 years, our Western colleagues tried to turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by the nationalists in southeastern Ukraine. The nationalists destroyed residential areas, towns and villages, hospitals, kindergartens, and outpatient clinics in Donbass, claiming the lives of thousands of citizens.
We remember very well that over all these years, the International Committee of the Red Cross actively fulfilled its statutory functions, trying to provide humanitarian assistance to all civilians suffering from the war unleashed by Kiev. We appreciate your traditional, depoliticised and international humanitarian law-oriented approach in various conflict situations.
At the same time, our Western colleagues are striving to politicise humanitarian issues in the UN as much as possible and give them an anti-Russian character. This was confirmed by the vote yesterday on the resolution that Russia presented. Its approval would have made it possible to solve many problems on the ground, such as those which the International Committee of the Red Cross team is facing in Ukraine.
We are interested in finding a solution to these problems, which are now building up in Ukraine. It is necessary to remove the artificial obstacles to the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid. I know that you were in Kiev before your visit to Moscow.
I hope that we will manage to achieve progress today in a traditionally practical manner, concentrating on humanitarian tasks without any politicisation.
We also hope that your visit will facilitate the development of several specific schemes on the ground.
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