The Swiss-based humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières said it was forced to stop working in Russia.

- It is with a heavy heart that we have to stop our activities in Russia, said the head of the Russian program of Doctors Without Borders.

The organization has been present in Russia since 1992, but said in August that it had received a notification from the Russian Ministry of Justice that the office had been removed from the register of non-governmental organizations.

Doctors Without Borders, together with the Ministry of Health of Russia, implemented programs in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Ivanovo and Kemerovo regions, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

The focus of that organization was the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis, especially severe forms, HIV, other infectious diseases and work with risk groups, including migrants.

After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, MSF provided medical and humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees and Russians who had moved from border areas to safe regions of Russia.