20.10.2013.

Marking the Anniversary of Liberation

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic laid wreaths at the monument to the liberators of Belgrade and the monument to a Red Army soldier on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade in the Second World War.

With the national anthem and honorary line of the Serbian Armed Forces Guard, President Nikolic wrote in the memory book: "If you had not been there children in Serbia would not be born and decent and proud Serbian children are born and they will never forget you. Thank you forever”.

Wreaths on the monuments to the Liberators of Belgrade and to a Red Army soldier were also laid by the Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, who led the state ceremony, and the Commandant of the Military Academy Major General Mladen Vuruna who led the delegation of the Ministry of Defence, representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the City of Belgrade, Serbian Veterans’ Association SUBNOR and representatives of the Embassies of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus and Azerbaijan in the Republic of Serbia.

On the occasion of 69 years of liberation of the capital city in the Second World War Prime Minister Dacic wrote in the memorial book:

"Liberators of Belgrade, members of the partisan army and the Red Army deserve to be forever a part of the collective memory of the people of Belgrade and Serbia. May them enjoy eternal glory, thank them for woving their lives for the freedom of Serbia. It is our only obligation to keep this freedom from oblivion and from some new invaders."

Within the celebration of the anniversary, a delegation of the Air Force of the Air Defence of the Serbian Armed Forces laid wreaths by the monuments to fallen Soviet veterans who died in Avala.

On this day in 1944, members of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, after several days of bloody and difficult struggle, aided by their Soviet allies liberated the capital of Serbia and Yugoslavia. This ended the four-year period of its occupation, during which a number of Belgrade citizens died, while the city suffered damage to extremely high extent.