Geneva (ICRC) – The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, has arrived in Moscow for a planned visit.

Ms Spoljaric plans to discuss in confidence with senior government officials the humanitarian consequences of the Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict as well as ongoing armed conflicts in places such as Myanmar, Gaza, and Sudan.

This is to include critical issues such as respect for international humanitarian law, prisoners of war, the fate of the missing, and protection for humanitarian workers. Last week, three ICRC staff were killed when shelling hit a distribution site in the Donetsk region. These deaths—which the ICRC condemned—come amid a sharp rise in the number of humanitarians killed around the world in the last two years.

The visit is part of the ICRC’s ongoing engagement with Russian authorities. This dialogue is part of ICRC’s work to speak with all parties to a conflict about their obligations under the Geneva Conventions to limit suffering in war as well as ICRC’s work to respond to humanitarian needs.

About the ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.