MOSCOW. July 2 (Interfax) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been in close contact with the Russian authorities, including the Emergency Situations Ministry, on providing humanitarian assistance to refugees from Donbas, ICRC Head of Operations for Europe and Central Asia Laurent Corbaz said.
"We are today regularly in contact with the Russian authorities both in Moscow and in Geneva to exchange views on the way the humanitarian assistance is provided [] We are notably in a close relationship with the Ministry for Emergencies, Emercom, and Minister [Vladimir] Puchkov and our President [Peter] Maurer are regularly in contact on this issue," Corbaz said in an interview with Interfax.
According to the ICRC, there are thousands people displaced from Ukraine in Russia and Belarus.
"Most of them have been assisted by a Russian mechanism either through the Red Cross or through the Ministry for Emergency. However, we have noted that notably in Rostov and also in Crimea displaced where there was need for additional assistance because they were particularly vulnerable," Corbaz said.
"We have been assisting these families together with the local branch of the Russian Red Cross, and we have been assisting around 24,000 people recently. Things are the same with the Belarusian Red Cross with around 6,000 persons," he said.