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Doctors Without Borders (MSF) closes its operations in Russia

The international non-profit humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF, Médecins Sans Frontières) has announced the closure of its programs in Russia. The organization’s statement says.

The reason for the closure is that in August the organization received a letter from the Ministry of Justice of Russia with the decision to withdraw the affiliate office of Médecins Sans Frontières in Russia from the register of affiliate and representative offices of foreign NGOs, the statement says.

As of September 15, 2024, the register lists only two branches of the organization — Doctors Without Borders (Belgium) and Doctors Without Borders (France). The first was excluded from the register in 2009; the second, added in 2006, has no date of withdrawal. The branch of Doctors Without Borders (the Netherlands) was removed from the register in July 2024.

«It is with a heavy heart that we have to close our activities in Russia,» says Yashovardhan, head of MSF programmes in the country. «Our organisation’s work is guided by the principles of independence, impartiality, and neutrality, and medical ethics. We provide assistance based on the needs.»

The statement notes that many people in need of medical and humanitarian assistance will now be left without the support that the organization could provide them. «MSF would like to work in Russia again when this is possible,» the organization added.

  • MSF was founded by a group of French doctors and journalists in 1971 to help people in war zones, epidemics and natural disasters. It works in more than 70 countries around the world.
  • Doctors Without Borders has been working in Russia since 1992. The organization was involved in the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis and HIV, assistance to the homeless, humanitarian aid in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan. After the start of the war in Ukraine, it helped forced migrants, who ended up in the Russian Federation, and residents of Russian regions who suffered from shelling.
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