GENEVA (AP) — Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday it has ended its activities in Russia after 32 years, citing a letter from the Justice Ministry saying the medical aid group had been removed from a register of foreign nongovernmental organizations.
The aid group, also known by its French-language name Doctors Without Borders and its acronym MSF, said it would keep its base in Moscow but its activities — run by its Dutch affiliate — have stopped. It was MSF Netherlands that was deregistered, a spokesperson for the organization said in an email.
MSF has been active in Russia since 1992 and has implemented programmes to assist the homeless and migrants, treat tuberculosis and provide general health care, including for infectious diseases such as HIV.
The aid agency said it had provided assistance to more than 52,000 people who crossed from Ukraine into Russia or to internally displaced persons in Russia since Moscow’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Doctors Without Borders recently said it had made plans to respond to the humanitarian and medical needs of displaced people in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces recently invaded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russian troops had launched a counteroffensive in the Kursk region to drive out Ukrainian troops that stormed over the border more than five weeks ago. It was the first time since World War II that Russian territory was under foreign occupation.
Norman Sitali, the operations manager of MSF’s programmes in Russia, said the aid organisation was “very sad” about the end of the programmes, “as many people in need of medical and humanitarian assistance are now left without the support we could have provided them.”
“MSF is keen to work in Russia again if and when possible,” Sitali added.
