In 2023, the Russian Red Cross (RRC), Russia’s oldest humanitarian organization, has provided assistance and support to more than 2.7 million people all over Russia. This was announced on Wednesday, December 20, by Pavel Savchuk, President of the RRC, at a TASS conference dedicated the RRC work results in 2003. He also highlighted the extensive efforts of the RRC in the provision of versatile services and assistance to those in need.
“This year, the Russian Red Cross has reached over 2.7 million people with its humanitarian efforts. These are the victims of emergencies, floods and fires, beneficiaries of our international humanitarian missions and projects of social care, prevention of socially significant diseases and other areas of our activities,” said Pavel Savchuk, President of the Russian Red Cross.
The Russian Red Cross continues to actively develop social programs aimed at providing medical and social assistance to the elderly, disabled persons and their loved ones.
“Since the beginning of this year, one-time social support was provided to 44,000 people in need; almost 4,000 more people have received social services at the RRC regional branches on a permanent basis; almost 3,000 people have used our ‘Help is Here’ platform. In addition, over 35,000 people have attended our master classes on kinship care, and more than 5,200 caregivers, nurses and social workers have received professional training at the RRC,” stated Pavel Savchuk, President of the Russian Red Cross.
In addition, a new initiative of the Russian Red Cross – the Help Service – is becoming a key element in providing support to those in need. The RRC Help Service has been established in order to render systemic the work done to help people in need and to ensure the prompt processing of the requests.
“The Help Service will render our work systemic and will make the process of providing assistance to people simple, fast and transparent regardless of the person’s socio-demographic status and location... This is a new structure for us that has brought together all the staff and units that provide direct help to people. It defines the standards of assistance and directly processes requests. Over several months of work, we have received almost 3,000 requests,” said Pavel Savchuk.
The RRC plans to expand the Help Service activities to all RRC regional branches. The RRC site has a chat bot through which a help request can be made. This simplifies the process of submitting a request for all those in need.
As the RRC President noted, “these questionnaires will be directly sent to the Help Service and all requests will be collected at one central hub.”
In addition, the Russian Red Cross will create an Emergency Response Fund to improve the efficiency of disaster response and to ensure crisis prevention.
“The key point in emergency response is preventive preparation, which allows you to start helping the affected people in the first hours and days after the tragedy. In this connection, the Russian Red Cross has taken a decision to create an Emergency Response Fund which will accumulate the necessary resources for a quick and efficient disaster response. This fund will allow accumulating financial reserves, humanitarian aid, equipping warehouses with the necessary equipment and emergency response teams with equipment and uniforms. If any emergency occurs in the country, we will be able to start responding and helping the affected people almost immediately», said Pavel Sacchuk, President of the Russian Red Cross.
As was noted by the RRC President, the organization’s goal now is to “accumulate about 100 million rubles.”
“These funds will be used to train and equip the response teams, to form and stock warehouses with humanitarian aid, as well as equip regional branches with supplies of humanitarian goods. Besides, these funds will allow us to quickly purchase and transport humanitarian aid,” said Pavel Savchuk.
According to the RRC President, throughout 2023, the Russian Red Cross has actively provided assistance to people affected by natural disasters including fires in the Urals and floods in Primorsky Krai. Thanks to these efforts, 16,000 humanitarian goods were delivered to the Kurgan Region, the Sverdlovskaya Region, the Tyumen Region and the Omsk Region and assistance was provided to 1,300 people. In the Primorskiy Krai, humanitarian aid was delivered to 3,240 people. The RRC has now launched the process of transition to preventive preparation for potential disasters.
“This year, we have formed and trained emergency response teams in 5 regions of Russia and a federal response team of almost 50 people was created, equipped and trained last autumn. The all-Russian training took place in the Moscow Region, and, by the way, the second training is taking place there these days,” said the head of the organization.
The Russian Red Cross plans to conduct such trainings on a regular basis. Noteworthy is the fact that the training participants not only study theory, but also practice the expertise and skills they acquire. The real situations of possible emergencies under a variety of scenarios are simulated.
In addition, the RRC President noted that the international activities of the Russian Red Cross to support people affected by emergencies have also received a new impetus. This year, the RRC has conducted successful humanitarian missions in Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, helping thousands of affected people.
“This year, for the first time in 30 years, the RRC has expanded its humanitarian activities to the international level. During the 35 days period in the Syrian Arab Republic, our specialists provided assistance to almost 5,000 earthquake survivors. Another 1,000 families in Nagorno-Karabakh received personal hygiene items, food, and bedding items. In total, we delivered 15 tons of humanitarian aid to this region,” said Pavel Savchuk.
The first aid training also remains a priority for the RRC, and in 2023, about 800,000 people attended relevant master classes and courses, which is almost twice as many as in the previous year.
A number of the RRC regional branches run patient assistance schools where HIV and TB positive can get support. The Russian Red Cross also provides free rapid testing for HIV; more than 33,000 people have benefited from this opportunity this year.
Pavel Savchuk has also noted that the RRC advocacy programs of blood and bone marrow donation are successfully continuing attracting thousands of donors. This year, through the blood and bone marrow donation campaign almost 34 tons of blood have been collected.
Throughout the year, the Russian Red Cross has also continued helping those affected by the Ukrainian crisis, “who, just as before, need support and assistance from the government and relevant non-profit organizations,” said the RRC President.
“Since the beginning of this year, we have helped more than 150,000 people in need. This year, all the services, which we have launched before, have remained available. This includes humanitarian clothing, vouchers, cash payments, psychosocial support, family reunification and many other things. In addition to this, in 2023, we have launched an exclusive program in 10 regions Russia, i.e. we have established the Children and Parents Centers. These Centers operate on a permanent basis at least 5 days a week; at these Centers, children affected by the Ukrainian crisis and disadvantaged by difficult situations can spend their spare time and study with our specialists and volunteers, play, communicate with each other, attend lectures and see psychologists should there be a need and should their parent or legal representatives allow them to do so. It is invaluable that adults and children can receive help in our Centers absolutely free of charge,” said Pavel Savchuk.
In conclusion, the RRC Chairman emphasized the readiness of the Russian Red Cross to continue its efficient work in providing assistance and support to all those in need in Russia.
“We are interested in ensuring a uniform wide range of humanitarian services across the country and in providing qualitative and timely assistance to all those in need,” summed up Pavel Savchuk.
