MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) can play a major role to help overcome the consequences of the crisis around Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks with visiting ICRC President Peter Maurer.
The ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh that was agreed by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia "Opens additional possibilities for the ICRC," he said. "We think that the ICRC can play an important and more active role in overcoming the humanitarian impacts of what has happened in Nagorno-Karabakh."
"We know what the Red Cross is doing to help exchange bodies of those killed, release prisoners and other detainees. It is very important in terms of restoration of normal relations between people of various etnic and religious groups," Lavrov stressed.
"Russia is taking an active part in the implementation of the ICRC’s projects," the Russian minister said. "Today, we reiterated our readiness to continue to promote their implementation, first of all, those projects that are geared to improve the situation of civilians in crisis situations. Russia’s annual voluntary contributions to the ICRC have been used for these purposed since 2018."
The Russian top diplomat highly assessed cooperation with the ICRC in southeastern Ukraine, in Abkhazia, in South Ossetia, in the Middle East and North Africa, in particular in Syria and Libya.
Touching on issues of cooperation with the ICRC in combating the novel coronavirus infection, Lavrov drew attention to the fact that "the pandemic aggravates humanitarian problems in many crisis-gripped regions." "In general, the coronavirus pandemic makes the burden of illegal unilateral sanction still heavier for millions of people who cannot have access to normal medial services and infrastructure and to articles of daily necessity," he stressed. "Unilateral restrictions are still in place. It is regrettable as it only aggravates the crisis and complicates the activities of humanitarian organizations.".