MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will consider its participation in Russia’s second humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine after receiving an official request from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Andre Loersch, a spokesman for the ICRC mission in Ukraine told RIA Novosti on Monday.
“We will wait for an official appeal of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian authorities concerning the content of the [humanitarian] cargo, ICRC participation and so on,” Loersch said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a briefing on Monday, that Russia is interested in remaining a donor of humanitarian aid for the residents of eastern Ukraine, struggling without regular food supplies, water and electricity.
Russia has urged its ICRC and Ukrainian counterparts to actively participate in the humanitarian mission in Ukraine and has informed Kiev of its plans to send an additional humanitarian convoy within the next few days.
On August 22, a convoy of 227 trucks with 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid arrived in Ukraine’s eastern city of Luhansk, where a military operation has been ongoing since mid-April.
The convoy was at the Russian-Ukrainian border on August 14, but Kiev had been postponing its final approval for the trucks to proceed into Ukraine.
ICRC representatives refused to escort the humanitarian convoy on the territory of Ukraine, due to the security concerns.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry described the convoy crossing the Russian border as a violation of international norms.
Moscow reminded that Russia received a formal agreement from Ukrainian authorities for the passage of the humanitarian convoy across the border on August 12.
