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Moscow Slams NATO Over Rasmussen’s Statements About Russian Humanitarian Convoy

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The Russian Foreign Ministry said the statement of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen that Russian humanitarian aid convoy entered Ukraine without Kiev’s consent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) involvement, is another lie.

MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said the statement of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen that Russian humanitarian aid convoy entered Ukraine without Kiev’s consent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) involvement, is another lie.

“In his statement, filled with allegations, Rasmussen claimed that Russian humanitarian aid convoy entered Ukraine ‘without entering the consent of the Ukrainian authorities and without any involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross.’ This is another lie,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Rasmussen said Friday that by entering Ukraine, Russia’s humanitarian aid convoy, Moscow breached its international commitments, including those it recently made in Berlin and Geneva.

“I condemn the entry of a Russian so-called humanitarian convoy into Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian authorities and without any involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross,” Rasmussen said. “This is a blatant breach of Russia’s international commitments, including those made recently in Berlin and Geneva, and a further violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russia.”

“If NATO really wants to know the truth behind the Russian humanitarian mission, including the degree of ICRC’s ‘involvement’ or ‘non-involvement’, we recommend that they contact [ICRC] headquarters,” the ministry said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry reminded that Moscow received a formal agreement from Kiev authorities for the passage of the humanitarian convoy through the Ukrainian border on August 12.

“We act fully in line with norms of the international humanitarian law,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday.

On August 14, the trucks with Russian humanitarian aid arrived at the border, but Ukraine began customs clearance only on August 21.

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