MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations is ready to continue providing humanitarian aid to southeastern Ukraine and has called on the Red Cross to provide more active assistance, Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations announced Wednesday.
"It should be said that representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) took part [in the humanitarian efforts] as well. We went through all the customs procedures, and of course we would like to turn to the Red Cross calling for more active participation," Vladimir Stepanov said at the Committee of Public Support of Residents of Southeastern Ukraine meeting.
In early September, the participants of trilateral talks on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis agreed in Minsk to organize two more humanitarian convoys from Russia to eastern Ukraine.
The second delivery was carried out last week. A convoy of 220 trucks brought around 1,800 tons of food, medicine, water purification equipment and power generators to the Luhansk Region, which has been on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe for weeks.
The first convoy of 280 trucks carrying Russian humanitarian aid was sent to eastern Ukraine in August, entering the country through a checkpoint controlled by independence forces after being stranded at the border for more than a week.
