New investigation reveals the Russian Red Cross is expanding operations in occupied Ukraine as its international funding grows
In 2024, Meduza published a joint investigation as part of the Kremlin Leaks project that revealed the activities of the Russian Red Cross (RRC) in Ukraine’s occupied territories. Among other findings, we learned that individuals claiming to be Red Cross employees had abused prisoners of war at a prison facility in the Donetsk region. In a follow-up investigation, Meduza and its reporting partners have now revealed how the RRC has become even more deeply entangled in Russia’s military and propaganda apparatus, while continuing to receive millions of euros from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement — funding that includes contributions from the European Commission and other international organizations that oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine. Here’s what else our reporting uncovered.
This investigation was conducted in partnership with the Follow the Money project, Paper Trail Media (Germany), Der Standard (Austria), and Delfi (Estonia).
International funding for the Russian Red Cross (RRC) continues — even though the organization operates in Ukraine’s occupied territories.
In 2024, the Russian Red Cross received 6.5 million euros from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and 7 million euros from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), a total equivalent to about $16 million. This amount, which is double what it received in 2022, accounted for just over a quarter of the RRC’s total annual budget.
How is the Red Cross structured?
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the largest humanitarian network in the world and has a complex structure. People often confuse the Movement itself, the International Committee of the Red Cross within it, and the national Red Cross societies that operate in individual countries (these national societies belong to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which also falls under the Movement).
There are 191 of these national organizations, including the Russian Red Cross and the Ukrainian Red Cross. They are staffed by professional employees and trained volunteers.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is also part of the Movement but differs from national societies in that it holds an international mandate — meaning that its staff have the right to operate in active conflict zones. National societies, such as the Russian or Ukrainian Red Cross, have no such mandate and operate within their own countries, unless invited by another state to work on its territory.
National Red Cross societies function independently and follow the Movement’s statutes. In practice, however, Red Cross workers on the ground must maintain a high degree of loyalty to local authorities, otherwise “they simply won’t be able to deliver aid,” as one former ICRC employee told Meduza, noting that authorities always have vastly greater resources.
The funding streams differ as well. National societies rely on private donations, government subsidies, and support from the ICRC. The International Committee of the Red Cross, by contrast, is funded by voluntary contributions from states party to the Geneva Conventions, intergovernmental organizations (such as the European Commission), and other public and private entities, according to the organization’s website.
It’s unclear how much of this money ultimately came from European taxpayers. The European Commission and the governments of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic all claim their contributions to the ICRC and the IFRC did not reach the Russian Red Cross. A European Commission spokesperson told journalists the following:
The Commission funds a clearly defined set of humanitarian programs in specific countries. Russia is not part of this program, and the Russian Red Cross is not a beneficiary. By allocating funds for designated purposes, we effectively […] ensure that no European resources end up with the Russian Red Cross.
Despite the IFRC Governing Board’s creation of an oversight body to review allegations that the Russian Red Cross has violated the movement’s fundamental principles, its funding has not been cut off. The “oversight group” ultimately concluded that there were no grounds for sanctions. Pavel Savchuk, who heads the Russian organization, has kept his seat on the IFRC Governing Board. Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, called the decision a “gross violation” of Red Cross principles.
The Russian Red Cross also receives a substantial portion of its funding directly from the Russian authorities. As Meduza reported in 2024, the organization was slated to receive around two billion rubles ($25.4 million) from the federal budget over the following three years. Part of this money was earmarked for RRC operations in the occupied regions of Ukraine.
The Russian Red Cross is deepening its ties to the Kremlin through its involvement with militaristic organizations
The RRC formally claims to be neutral, yet it actively participates in the work of militaristic “patriotic” organizations. For example, the Movement of the First, a modern analogue of the Soviet Union’s Young Pioneers, whose supervisory board is headed by Putin. Several regional branches of the Russian Red Cross helped organize “Zarnitsa 2.0,” a nationwide competition run by the Movement of the First and Yunarmiya, where children as young as eight learned, among other things, to assemble weapons and operate drones.
Another joint project between the Movement of the First and the RRC — the First Aid training competitions — accounted for nearly 8 percent of the RRC’s total spending in 2024. These competitions for children were held across Russia and in occupied Ukrainian territories, from Luhansk to the Zaporizhzhia region. In Donetsk, participants were judged by people wearing jackets with Red Cross insignia and members of the Vostok-Donetsk special rapid-response unit, who, according to the organizers, “inspired the children with their example and professionalism.”
Asked about the RRC’s cooperation with the Movement of the First, an IFRC representative described it as an example of “practical neutrality.” According to the International Federation, programs like First Aid help “prevent deaths and support communities facing any type of crisis.” First-aid training, the organization added, “is intended for everyone — civilians, volunteers, families, teachers, students, military personnel, and political organizations.”
Pro-Russian groups using the Red Cross brand are emerging in Ukraine’s occupied regions
In recent years, new organizations operating under the Red Cross brand have appeared in Ukraine’s occupied territories — including the Donetsk Red Cross, the Luhansk Red Cross, and the Red Cross of the Zaporizhzhia region.
According to their own social media posts, the Donetsk Red Cross and the Luhansk Red Cross work with staff from the ICRC. The Donetsk Red Cross’s Telegram channel regularly publishes statements from the RRC and its head, Pavel Savchuk. In February, an employee of the Donetsk organization attended an RRC seminar in Moscow and received a certificate signed personally by Savchuk. And in an undercover call made by journalists from Delfi, a Donetsk Red Cross representative openly said that all of their work is carried out “with the full support, involvement, and cooperation” of the RRC.
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The IFRC, however, maintains that the RRC has no presence in occupied Ukrainian territories — and that local Red Cross groups operate independently according to their specific conditions. Yet at least one, the Zaporizhzhia group, has been officially registered in Russia since July 2024; its founders hold Russian citizenship, and local media describe it as “a regional branch of the RRC.”
The European Commission spokesperson told journalists that the ICRC has not cooperated with the RRC in occupied Ukrainian territory. “In Ukraine, the ICRC works with the Ukrainian Red Cross, not the Russian Red Cross,” the spokesperson said. Despite this, the Luhansk and Donetsk Red Cross organizations publicly claim to work with the ICRC.
Experts say the Russian Red Cross could face expulsion from the international Red Cross system
Ilya Shumanov, the former executive director of Transparency International’s Russian chapter, told journalists that “given the scale and systemic nature of the violations committed by the RRC, there are grounds for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to take action.” Such measures, he said, could include suspending the RRC’s membership or even expelling it for failing to comply with Red Cross principles. As an alternative, Shumanov suggested that the E.U. could consider imposing sanctions on the RRC.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, also called for sanctions. “Through its actions, the RRC is encouraging children to take part in future armed conflicts,” he said. According to Lubinets, the RRC today “serves the whims of a dictatorial regime.”
Representatives of the ICRC and the IFRC did not respond to questions about whether the RRC could face penalties for operating in occupied territories or participating in Kremlin propaganda campaigns.
Meanwhile, the Russian Red Cross continues to work closely with the Kremlin. On November 14, the final round of the nationwide First Aid competition opened in Saransk, Russia. The event, organized by the Movement of the First and the Russian Red Cross, brought together roughly a thousand students, teachers, and mentors from “89 regions of Russia,” according to Movement of the First leader Artur Orlov, a veteran of the war against Ukraine.
That figure means children from all four of Ukraine’s annexed regions also took part, given that Russia has only 85 internationally recognized regions.
Read the full story on Follow the Money.
What makes up this total?
In 2024, the Russian Red Cross received amounts equivalent to 6.5 million euros from the ICRC and 7 million euros from the IFRC, according to our investigators’ calculations.