A Ukrainian official criticized the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday for not cooperating with her country on the fate of Ukrainian refugees in Russia, suspecting it of being “accomplice” of “deportations”, accusations strongly rejected by the ICRC .
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“The ICRC is not fulfilling its mandate” concerning the people evacuated, according to her by force to Russia by the Russian army, launched Lyoudmyla Denissova, in charge of human rights at the Ukrainian Parliament on Ukrainian television.
“I suspect them of being accomplices” of Russia, she continued, after speaking Wednesday with an official of the Ukrainian branch of the ICRC.
“I have been trying to see the president of the ICRC for a month to discuss the deportation of our citizens to Russia. I am trying to do this after the president of the ICRC said that the ICRC was going to open a representation in Rostov-sur-le-Don (southern Russia on the border with Ukraine, editor’s note) and encourage the reception of Ukrainians on the territory of the state-aggressor,” said Denisova.
“Today I met the representative of the Ukrainian branch of the Red Cross to whom I wrote 120 letters about the search for our citizens. I received no response,” she said Wednesday.
She cited UN figures, according to which 550,000 Ukrainian refugees are in Russia, including 121,000 children.
“Where are they ? In filtration camps? In temporary homes? We have testimonies of people who were brought” to Russia, she said.
Ms Denissova said she asked her Russian counterpart Tatiana Moskalkova to provide her with the lists of Ukrainian refugees in Russia in order to work with the Red Cross for their repatriation: “Zero response from her and from the ICRC”.
Questioned by AFP, the ICRC “firmly rejected these false accusations” by assuring once again that it would not “carry out forced evacuations” and recalling that the organization had “facilitated the voluntary passage of civilians and wounded in complete safety to other Ukrainian cities”.
The organization confirmed “having explored the possibility of opening an office in Rostov-on-Don” in order to “alleviate the suffering of those affected by the armed conflict”.
“Building and maintaining a dialogue with the parties to a conflict is essential in order to have access to all those affected and to obtain the security guarantees necessary for our teams to provide vital assistance,” the ICRC stressed.
The ICRC also said it had “a positive and constructive meeting” with the Ukrainian human rights officer on Wednesday and “responded to the concerns of the authorities on these issues bilaterally and confidentially”.
The Ukrainian authorities regularly accuse the Russian army of forcibly bringing Ukrainian civilians into Russia.