Phone call red flagged

Organisation probes donations to Russia’s military

THE Australian Red Cross is investigating after its Russian counterpart was caught on tape welcoming donations of balaclavas, uniforms and drones for the country’s army.

It comes as Ukrainian community activists call on the Australian body and other international Red Cross offices to publicly denounce the Russian arm over its role supporting Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine and take steps to kick it out of international Red Cross groups. Activists say the Russian office’s actions, which also include accepting cash for the military, violate one of the Red Cross movement’s key principles – neutrality in armed conflicts.

In a phone call recorded by activists on Friday, a representative of the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Red Cross said people could support the military by dropping off supplies at the organisation’s office in PetropavlovskKamchatsky. PetropavlovskKamchatsky is the main city in Kamchatka, a peninsular in Russia’s far east where the time is just an hour ahead of Australian daylight saving time.

In the call, which News Corp has had independently translated, a Russian Red Cross official tells Sydneybased Ukrainian community protest organiser Anton Bogdanovych that supplies for the military including “thermal underwear, socks, sleeping bags, individual medical sets, and other outfit and equipment items” are welcome at the Kamchatka office.

Pressed on what he means by “other outfit and equipment items”, he responds: “Balaclavas, for example”.

Asked if people can also donate drones and military uniforms, he says: “Yes, you can.”

The Kamchatka Red Cross website shows it accepts donations for military personnel and their families on behalf of the Russian #WeTogether campaign, which includes as its aim supporting the country’s armed forces, and is working with the United Russia party headed by key Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev.

Mr Bogdanovych made the call to establish the willingness of the Russian Red Cross to accept donations to the military, rather than to actually make one.

The Red Cross office is a “joint centre where donations are accepted, collected and gathered together”, the Russian official said during the call. An Australian Red Cross spokesman said the organisation was aware of the phone call and was “establishing the facts”. The international Red Cross movement’s two peak bodies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, “are in dialogue with the Russian Red Cross on this matter,” he said.

Mr Bogdanovych said concerns were raised with the body more than two months ago and it had not taken any action.