Deacon Igor Kulikov, Director of the Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission and Head of the Social Ministry Department of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service, and employees of the Russian Orthodox Church's social assistance hotline visited the 112 Moscow Service Center on September 9, 2026.
The visit took place as part of a professional development program for church hotline operators and was dedicated to sharing experiences in organizing round-the-clock reception of appeals.
On the part of the 112 Service, Elena Kaminskaya, First Deputy Director of GBU "Sistema 112", Irina Danshina, Head of 112 Service, Olga Sivash, head of the Psychological Support Department, and Valery Plotkin, an analyst at the analytical department, took part in the meeting.
Elena Kaminskaya conducted a tour of the call center for the guests, told about the history of the service, its main tasks and principles of operation. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church got acquainted with the activities of the call center and the mentoring system, in which experienced operators help young professionals and get involved in solving unusual situations.
The meeting participants discussed the specifics of the work of emergency service operators: the procedure for receiving and transmitting calls, actions in case of sudden termination of communication, ways to determine the subscriber's location, providing psychological support and using special software.
"We don't have the concept of a "false call": we take every call seriously, no matter how it may seem at first glance. The operator can end the conversation only after making sure that the request has been sent to the correct address and work has begun with it," Irina Danshina noted.
Special attention was paid to the psychological support of employees. Olga Sivash, Head of the Profile Department, spoke about the qualities required by 112 specialists: high information processing speed, stress tolerance, the ability to make decisions quickly, conduct a dialogue and work in a team. At the same time, the desire to help, caring and responsiveness to people remain the most important conditions for such work.
The staff of the church's hotline, in turn, shared their experience of maintaining strength and empathy during stressful work shifts.
Deacon Igor Kulikov spoke about the system of receiving and processing appeals in the Russian Orthodox Church. According to him, the hotline is used by lonely elderly people, people with disabilities, residents of Donbass and the shelled regions, participants in a special military operation and their loved ones, as well as everyone who finds themselves in a difficult life situation.
Each request is registered and forwarded to the social coordinators. In cooperation with local dioceses and the nearest churches, they determine what kind of help a person needs and organize its provision. The church's hotline operators handle about 300 calls every day.
Anna Donicheva, coordinator of the call center of the Synodal Department for Charity, gave examples of the interaction between the two services: depending on the nature of the appeal, 112 Service operators direct callers to the church hotline, and its employees contact 112 Service in case of an emergency.
Following the meeting, the parties agreed to continue cooperation and exchange professional experience. Specialists from the Moscow 112 Service will conduct an online training course and a series of practical webinars for the operators of the Synodal Department of Charity.
"It was very useful for us to get acquainted with the work of such a professional team as the 112 Moscow Service. We were impressed by the number of calls, the quality of the operators' work and the high technological level of the center. The main thing that unites us with the 112 Service is the desire to do everything so that everyone who needs physical and spiritual help gets it on time," emphasized Deacon Igor Kulikov.
The 24-hour social assistance hotline of the Russian Orthodox Church +7 (800) 70-70-222 was established by the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service in 2021 with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. During its operation, operators have received more than 400,000 calls from all regions of Russia.
The Patriarchal Humanitarian Mission was established by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to coordinate assistance to civilians in Donbass, Novorossiya and the border regions, as well as wounded servicemen. Currently, there are 12 Mission assistance centers, whose staff have processed more than 417,000 requests. More than 4.4 thousand tons of humanitarian supplies were transferred to the victims, and more than 8.1 thousand volunteers joined the assistance.