Evidence from around the world demonstrates that voluntary, unpaid donors are the foundation of a safe blood supply. They give blood regularly, enabling safe blood to be made available to all patients requiring transfusion. To talk about blood donation in Russia, our guest today is Vera Bogdanova, the Directorate Head of the Russian Blood Transfusion Service at the Russian Federal Medical Biological Agency and the official Russian representative of the Blood Transfusion Committee at the Council of Europe.