‘A few regrettable cases’: Civil war violence and the recognition of the Russian Red Cross Society, 1918–21
Journal: The International History Review
Year: 2024

This article examines how and why the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) officially recognised the Bolshevik-controlled Russian Red Cross Society (ROKK) in October 1921, a decision that enabled more effective humanitarian relief in Soviet Russia but interlinked the ICRC with its new revolutionary, and authoritarian, regime. The Bolshevik takeover of the Russian Red Cross in 1918 posed a significant problem for the ICRC and disrupted relief to approximately 2,000,000 POWs still in So