The ICRC in Russia and Belarus: Facts and Figures, January-June 2026
Main highlights
- On July 1-2, a high-level visit of the ICRC President, Mirjana Spoljaric, took place in Moscow. The objective was to discuss humanitarian issues and concerns related to the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as conflicts in the Middle East, the Sahel, and elsewhere. She met with Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vasily Osmakov, Deputy Minister of Defence, Ms. Yana Lantratova, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, and Pavel Savchuk, President of the Russian Red Cross (RRC). Earlier in the year, in January, the ICRC President had received the Russian and Ukrainian Ombudspersons for a high-level meeting in the ICRC headquarters in Geneva.
- Since the beginning of the year, the conflict has been increasingly affecting the civilian population, with growing casualties, displacement, impact on civilian infrastructure and, occasionally, power outages. The ICRC carried out visits to impacted areas, for instance Belgorod, to assess the situation and the humanitarian needs. Our partner, the RRC, with our support or on its own, responded to the needs of people affected by the conflict in different regions of the country, through its regional branches.
- The ICRC also continued supporting vulnerable people striving to join family members on the other side of the front line. Since the beginning of this program in 2022, the number of people supported has been increasing year after year. In 2025, 550 people were helped to join family members on the other side of the front line, including people originally from Kursk repatriated back to Russia. In the first half of this year, 562 have already been thus supported.
- From March 23 to 27, the Head of the ICRC Moscow regional delegation was in Minsk, to meet Belarusian authorities, the Belarus Red Cross (BRC) and the Russian ambassador to Belarus. This mission was critical in engaging with key Belarusian authorities, namely the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Justice, the Deputy Chairman of the State Border Committee, and representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The promotion of international humanitarian law (IHL) was discussed, as well as support to humanitarian operations in Belarus related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
- In the first six months of 2026, the Head of the ICRC regional delegation held meetings with senior representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the Spiritual Administration of Russian Muslims. She also met with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Executive Committee and representatives of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA CIS).
