The Ukrainian branch of the aid group allegedly catalogued children with healthy organs.
The Russian Investigative Committee will look into allegations that the Ukrainian Red Cross SocietyRed Cross Society was involved in shady activities, including keeping records of children with healthy organs in the city of Mariupol, according to the Russian Investigative Committee on Sunday.
The claim came from Vladimir Taranenko, head of the Donetsk-based civic organization Peoples Retinue, a volunteer movement that states as one of its goals assisting law enforcement in the Donetsk People's Republic DPR The activist posted a video of what he called a search of the Red Cross office in Mariupol and claimed that some of the evidence found there casts the group in a very suspicious light.
He claimed that the office had medical records for over 1,000 children but they marked their healthy organs instead of any medical conditions or procedures.
Taranenko also claimed that some of the reading materials discovered at the office were instructions on how to use a weapon, including in a format intended for children. The video showed at least one military-related manual. A retired US Marines - Explosive Ordnance Disposal EOD technician, Thomas Gersbeck, said he was a printout of Practical Military Ordnance Identification. The book is a field manual on how to identify unexploded munitions and handle them in a safe manner.
Taranenko said investigators from the DPR will shed light on the activities of the society. The Russian committee said it will add the video to a list of evidence it already has about suspected crimes by Kiev.
Mariupol is a major port city in the DPR. During the ongoing military campaign against Ukraine, it was liberated by Russian and Donbass forces.
Neither the Ukrainian society nor the International Committee of the Red Cross would make a statement on the allegations.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to take the two republics by force.