Red Cross representative comes to Moscow Aug 19

MOSCOW, August 18 (Itar-Tass) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) proxy will come to Moscow to discuss Russian humanitarian relief delivery to Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, a press officer said on Monday. The ICRC head of operations for Europe and Central Asia, Laurent Corbaz, will arrive in Moscow on August 19 evening. No schedule details were yet available but the situation with the Russian humanitarian convoy will be discussed, said the ICRC regional delegation for Russia, Belarus, and Moldova press officer Viktoria Zotikova. The visit has been confirmed by the press secretary of the Geneva-based organization Anastasia Isyuk. Late last week Corbaz visited Kiev and discussed humanitarian aid delivery to Ukraine’s southeast with the authorities. The ICRC representative left Geneva last Thursday and was expected to go to Kiev and Moscow but went back to Switzerland after the talks in Kiev. The Russian convoy of about 270 trucks that left the Moscow Region on August 12 with almost 2,000-tonne aid is now near the Ukrainian border with Russia’s Rostov Region. On Sunday, Kiev agreed to recognize the cargo as humanitarian aid after long negotiations. The ICRC earlier said the Russian and Ukrainian customs agreed to start clearance on the first 16 trucks but the procedure did not start within 24 hours. The organization’s employees still have no security guarantees from either of the conflict’s sides. Until they were provided, the trucks would not cross the border, said the ICRC. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the aid includes power stations, cereals, meat and milk preserves, salt, sugar, tea, bottle water, baby food, medical property and sleeping bags. According to the UN and the Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS), the military confrontation between the government and militia in Ukraine’s east forced almost 890,000 out of their homes in mid-April - mid-August. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said 155,800 were internally displaced persons. Another 733,000 fled to Russia, according to the FMS. Learn more on itar-tass.com