MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) – The head of the Russian Red Cross, Raisa Lukutsova, is to meet the ICRC head of operations for Europe and Central Asia, Laurent Corbaz, on Wednesday.
“I am meeting Laurent Corbaz at about 01:00 p.m. Moscow time [09:00 GMT]. It is not clear yet where we are to meet,” Lukutsova told RIA Novosti early on Wednesday.
Last week, the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Kiev, where he discussed the issues, related to the delivery of the humanitarian aid to Ukraine’s east and the organization’s role in this operation. These are the issues that are also expected to top the agenda for Corbaz’ meeting with Lukutsova during his visit to Moscow.
In early August, amid the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine, Russia came up with a proposal to send an international humanitarian mission to eastern Ukraine with Russian humanitarian aid under the auspices of the ICRC. A convoy of 280 trucks carrying about 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid including baby food, medication, grain, sugar and other basic necessities set off from the Moscow region on August 12 heading towards conflict areas in crisis-torn Ukraine.
Currently, first 16 trucks with the aid are at a customs checkpoint on the Ukrainian border; the second batch is expected to follow soon. The head of the ICRC delegation for Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, Pascal Cuttat, examined the trucks Sunday and said he was satisfied with the condition of the humanitarian cargo.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said during the UN Security Council meeting that Moscow expected the delivery of its humanitarian aid to start in the next few hours but was still waiting for Kiev’s security guarantees for the convoy
