The Russian-Armenian Center of Humanitarian Response (RACHR) was established on the basis of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Armenia dated May 19, 2015, which was signed in Moscow (Russian Federation) by the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation V.A. Puchkov and the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia A. Yeritsyan. At the same time, the Agreement on Approval of the Charter of the Center was signed.
The legal basis for the establishment of the Center was the Agreement between the Governments of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia on cooperation in the field of emergency humanitarian response, the prevention of natural disasters and man-made accidents and the elimination of their consequences of August 17, 1994.
RACHR is an intergovernmental humanitarian non-profit organization with the rights of a legal entity. The Center is registered in the Republic of Armenia in accordance with its legislation.
RACHR was established to provide humanitarian response to emergencies in Armenia and other countries. It is entrusted with the following tasks:
- participation in the implementation of measures to prevent and eliminate emergency situations, including extinguishing fires;
- providing emergency humanitarian assistance to the population affected by emergency situations;
- implementation of joint projects and programs on the territory of the Republic of Armenia and third countries, including projects and programs for humanitarian demining;
- training and advanced training of specialists in the field of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations;
- testing and demonstration of modern fire and rescue equipment and technologies;
- Performing other tasks that do not contradict the goals of the Center.
Today, the Center has a number of operations of providing assistance and eliminating emergency situations on the territory of Armenia, Georgia, and other states.
The capabilities of the Rapid Response Center were most fully demonstrated during the elimination of the consequences of devastating fires in Armenia and other countries of the Caucasian region in the summer of 2017.
One of the priorities of the Center’s activity is work on staff training, holding conferences and seminars, as well as participation in exhibitions.
The Center actively carries out activities for the education and training of specialists, attracting for this the capabilities of the “Centrospas” detachment of the Ministry of Emergency situations of Russia. By the autumn of 2017, more than 500 Armenian rescuers had been trained.
The RACHR also takes an active part in the public life of the Republic of Armenia, cooperates with public, religious and veteran organizations, as well as schools and the media.
In the future, the Center is seen as a full-fledged international structure providing assistance in emergency humanitarian response to all interested states of the Caucasus region. The Center is open for accession to it by any state or organization that is in solidarity with its goals and objectives.
Director of RACHR – Yu.V. Poleshchuk (Russia). Co-Director of RACHR – P.S. Gozalyan (Armenia).
Geographically, the Russian-Armenian Center of Humanitarian Response is located on the territory of Getargel village, Kotayk marz, Republic of Armenia