Severyan Dyakonov: The Soviet Red Cross in the International Red Cross Movement during the Cold War

Severyan Dyakonov will present his ongoing research project, focusing on the Soviet Red Cross’s engagement within the International Red Cross movement from the 1950s to the 1980s. During this period, representatives of the Soviet Red Cross assumed key roles in the governing bodies of the International League of the Red Cross, strategically aiming to challenge prevailing Western notions of humanitarianism and exert influence over the newly established Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in post-colonial regions. By the 1960s, a majority of Soviet doctors were women. When working abroad, the Soviet female doctors impersonated the achievements of Socialist Modernity. This project is based on archival data from the International Federation of the Red Cross archives in Geneva.
Severyan Dyakonov is a specialist on Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War (PhD, the Geneva Graduate Institute, 2022). Swiss National Fund Postdoctoral Mobility Fellow, Visiting Scholar at New York University. Severyan’s postdoctoral project is dealing with the history of the Soviet Red Cross’s influence in the International League of the Red Cross in Geneva during the Cold War.