International Red Cross suspends Belarus’ membership in organisation

DMITRY SHEVTSOV, HEAD OF THE BELARUSIAN RED CROSS, DURING HIS TRIP TO THE RUSSIAN-OCCUPIED PART OF DONBAS IN JULY 2023. SCREENSHOT: VIDEO BY SPUTNIK/KREMLIN-ALIGNED NEWS AGENCY RIA NOVOSTI

The International Red Cross has suspended the membership of the Belarusian Red Cross effective 1 December on account of its leader, who illegally transported Ukrainian children to Belarus and visited the Russian-occupied part of Donbas wearing Z-symbols [one of the symbols the Russian occupying forces mark their military equipment with and which has become a part of Russian propaganda – ed.].

Source: Red Cross report; Belarusian media outlet Zerkalo (Mirror)

Details: The document stated that the membership was suspended since the Belarusian Red Cross refused to dismiss its head, Dmitry Shevtsov. His remarks about nuclear weapons and the displacement of children to Belarus, as well as his visit to the Ukrainian cities of Luhansk and Donetsk, occupied by Russian forces.

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The Belarusian Red Cross loses its membership rights effective 1 December. Any new funding for the organisation will cease. It will no longer be able to participate in the organisation’s General Assembly, vote or be elected at any statutory meetings.

The Belarusian Red Cross may be reinstated after Shevtsov’s dismissal.

Shevtsov himself has labelled the decision “purely political” and said that 3 countries – Russia, Venezuela and Egypt – backed him in the vote.

Background:

• In July 2023, Belarusian opposition media reported that Dmitry Shevtsov, Head of the Belarusian Red Cross, had travelled to the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and, wearing a uniform with a Z patch, admitted to Belarusian state television that his organisation had “taken and will continue to take” children from the occupied territories of Ukraine.
• The International Red Cross launched an investigation after Shevtsov’s trip to the occupied territories of Ukraine, during which he confessed to abducting Ukrainian children and taking them to Belarus.

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