RIA Novosti: Red Cross Officials Meet Moscow’s Aid Convoy in South Russia
MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) – Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met Moscow’s convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Ukraine in Russia’s southern Rostov Region, ICRC tweeted Thursday.
“We’ve made initial contact with Russia-led aid convoy, Rostov region, Russia. Many practical details to be clarified,” ICRC wrote in Twitter.
Russia sent a convoy of 280 white Kamaz trucks carrying humanitarian aid to southeastern Ukraine on Tuesday. The convoy is carrying medical supplies, food, baby food, sleeping bags and other basic necessities.
On Wednesday, the speaker of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said that the government will ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid from Russia to war-torn southeastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday that “Ukraine may accept any type of humanitarian aid exclusively within the framework of international law and exclusively from the Red Cross.”
At the same time, the country’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that Ukraine would not allow a Russian convoy of humanitarian aid to pass through the eastern Kharkiv Region.
US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said late Tuesday that Kiev and Washington would agree to Russia’s humanitarian aid delivery if Moscow accepts the Ukrainian government’s conditions.
According to Harf, the preconditions for receiving the aid include that the shipment was to be received at a border crossing point controlled by the Ukrainian government, that it passed appropriate customs clearances, that the Red Cross took custody and responsibility for its delivery in Ukraine, and that militia in the Luhansk Region allowed safe access to the aid.
Earlier, Russia officially addressed UN humanitarian agencies, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with a call to organize an international humanitarian mission to Ukraine. Last week, Russia urged the UN Security Council to send a mission with Russian humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine under the auspices of the ICRC and accompanied by its representatives.
The ICRC backed the proposal, and on August 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia had reached an agreement with Kiev and the Red Cross on sending a humanitarian mission to eastern Ukraine, expressing hope that the West will not impede its delivery.