RIYADH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2023) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is facilitating the exchange of the bodies of killed Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, ICRC Director-General Robert Mardini told Sputnik.
"We are facilitating the exchange of dead bodies of Russian servicemen and Ukrainian servicemen," Mardini said on the sidelines of the 3rd Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum. "We're doing this, under the heading of our role of neutral intermediary."
When asked whether the ICRC has scheduled any meetings in Moscow or Kiev in the near future, Mardini said, "We have delegations and teams in Ukraine, in Kiev, and in Moscow, and official meetings are part of our normal work."
Mardini said the ICRC president visited Ukraine last year and also visited Moscow, adding that the dialogue is ongoing at the working level and at the high level.
"The purpose is really to carve out a bigger humanitarian space for impartial humanitarian work in the field of assistance, supporting people affected by the conflict, but also in the field of the protection, visiting POWs (prisoners of war) and ensuring that they are in contact with their families," Mardini added.
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 in response to requests by the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics to protect them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the special operation, which targets Ukrainian military infrastructure, aims to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine and to completely liberate the Donbas region.
