15.06.2018.
Serbs and Russians have always been on the better side of the world
Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin attended today a volunteer action of arranging the Russian Necropolis at the New Cemetery in Belgrade, marking the 100th anniversary since the end of the First World War and 180 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Russia.
Apart from the minister of defence, the volunteer action was attended by Serbian Patriarch Irinej, Goran Vesić, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Chepurin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Serbia, Kiril Tjurdenjev, General Manager of NIS and representatives of Gazprom Neft.
The minister of defence reminded that the Serbs and the Russians share history, not only because they were born as Slavs and they are Orthodox, but because they chose to share the values because of which they have always been on the same side of the world.- The Serbs and the Russians have always been on the same, better side of the world and have never missed being classified exactly where freedom and truth are. Apart from the common origin and common religion, we were linked together and kept together through the history of the values for which we are living and for which we are dying - freedom above all. Imagine that there was no contribution of the Serbs and the Russians to victories in the First and the Second World Wars, would the history of the world be written in the same way? Who would have ruled the world today if the Serbs and the Russians had not given such a great and so awesome contribution to the victory of liberation in the First and the Second World Wars? Minister Vulin said asking how the world would be if the Serbs and the Russians had not shared common history and common values.
According to him, today's gathering in the Russian Necropolis is another confirmation that the values of freedom and the right to choose, as well as the right to decide on ourselves and the future of our children, are our values.
- This monument and these bright bones remind us once again that we should not be lower than our ancestors. We have not gathered here today just because we want to recall our history and our glorious and bright ancestors, we are here because we also have because we wish to share a common future. The relations between Serbia and Russia, the relations between the Serbs and the Russians must never be reduced to gathering to talk about Dostoevsky, or to bow our heads in silent respect of the glorious and bright graves of our ancestors. The relations between the Serbs and the Russians, the relations between Serbia and Russia, are relations of the common future, the future that we have chosen, which is good for both the Serbs and the Russians and the whole world. Glory to the Heroes of the First World War, glory to all those who have built their lives into the foundation of freedom of the Serbian people and in the foundation of freedom of the Russian people, but also the joy because of the common future in which our children will decide on their own destiny, Minister Vulin said, the way in history when we decided ourselves about ourselves we were big and upright and rich and respected.
After prayer, Patriarch Irinej reminded in his words that for the Orthodox Christians cemeteries are the holy places in the world, and that in the Russian Necropolis there lie bodies of our Russian brothers, those who laid down their lives in the struggle for freedom of our people.In the framework of today's voluntary action, the minister of defence planted a birch tree with the ambassador of the Russian Federation Chepurin, while many volunteers cleaned the territory of the Russian cemetery, planted flowers and worked on the restoration of headstone inscriptions.
The aim of the action is to preserve the historic memorial heritage of the Russian Federation abroad, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and 180 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Russia, and support the initiative of Russia to declare the year 2018 the year of volunteers in the Russian Federation.Russian Necropolis is one of the largest foreign cemeteries of Russian immigrants in the world and at the same time a unique monument to fraternal relations between the two peoples - Serbian and Russian. It consists of three parts: the Memorial Monument to Russian Glory, Chapel of Iver and the plot which has 775 tombs in which there are about 3,000 Russian soldiers who fought in the First World War for the freedom of Serbia, as well as members of the Russian emigration who found refuge in Serbia fleeing before the October Revolution of 1917.
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