During the two-day visit, President Spoljaric reiterated the responsibility of states to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law, including to protect civilians and civilian objects like essential infrastructure from hostilities and to grant the ICRC sustained access to prisoners of war. 

President Spoljaric met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; Deputy Minister of Defence Vasily Osmakov; Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova; Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. She also met with the President of the Russian Red Cross, Pavel Savchuk.  

By maintaining an operational presence on both sides of the front line, the ICRC delivers aid to vulnerable populations, whoever they are and wherever they are. It also means the ICRC can act as a neutral intermediary to enable humanitarian outcomes.  

The ICRC engages directly with parties to conflict globally as part of its humanitarian mandate to promote respect for international humanitarian law and to help alleviate suffering in war. 

About the ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.

For more information, please contact:

Press Office, ICRC Geneva, Tel.: +41 22 730 34 43, press@icrc.org