24.03.2022.

President Vučić: We will neither kneel nor beg, it was aggression

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said tonight at the commemoration held in Kraljevo to mark the national observance of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of NATO Aggression, that "we will neither kneel nor beg, we want to keep alive the memory of the victims and we will never forget what you did to this country and its people."

The ceremony to mark the 23rd anniversary of the beginning of NATO aggression was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, and the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, General Milan Mojsilović. According to President Vučić, exactly 23 years ago, a brutal, horrid, criminal, terrible, inhumane attack on a small country began.

- On a small country that did not do anything wrong to anyone, that did not endanger anyone's territory. That small country did not attack anyone, it did not threaten the territory of any country. That small country and its great people just wanted to live peacefully on their own territory - said President Vučić.

The President said that 19 big countries had decided to show all their courage and arrogance to a small, unconquered and freedom-loving Serbian nation.

- What they had done to this nation years before, was not enough for them, so they used the strongest, the biggest, the most powerful, political, media, economic and military machinery in an effort to kill the soul, spirit and heart of that unconquered nation – the President of the Republic pointed out.

He said that our country would neither kneel nor beg, and emphasized that we would never forget what those countries had done to the Serbian people.

- We will neither kneel nor beg, we want to keep alive the memory of the victims, we will never forget what you did to our small country and our great people - said President Vučić.

According to him, we have to look to the future, but how can we forget all those victims, President Vučić asked, reading the names of the people who were killed in Kraljevo.

- My question for them is - why only 19 of you, why not more nations against just one small, unconquered country with a small but proud population? Kraljevo will always remember these names and Serbia will never forget them - said President Vučić.

He recalled the destruction that the Raška district had suffered during the NATO aggression. The phrase “collateral damage” that they use today, he added, to justify their actions and to brag and “snigger” at the fate of "one nation lying helplessly on the ground while 19 heroic, powerful nations are beating it”, sounds grotesque today.

- Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the beginning of the NATO aggression against our country, I repeat, the aggression against our country – all those things they prohibited us from saying for years and decades, and that we will never hide again. Aggression against a sovereign state, one of the founders of the United Nations, without a decision of the United Nations. Today, they don't remember that, and when they do, you can see that they didn't do it by accident and it wasn't a mistake as we have hoped all this time - President Vučić emphasized.

His only request is for them to let us mourn on March 24, that one day of the year, the thousands of people killed.

- Let us hear your silence on that one day, be quiet on that day, the only day. Do not insult our victims. Show respect for a free and freedom-loving nation - said President Vučić.

According to President Vučić, it is a country’s duty to develop a culture of remembrance and we have Milorad Dodik and people from Republika Srpska to thank for that. He said that the Serbian people would always be together and never divided on that issue.

- We can live in many different states, but you will never be able to divide us. We will always speak Serbian and use the Cyrillic alphabet - said the President of Serbia.

During his speech, Vučić said that 14-year-old Bojana Žarčanin had lost her leg thanks to the 19 NATO countries, which hadn’t cared whether they would take the life of a child.

- You are not such great heroes. And you didn't scare our Bojana, our heroine. She gave birth to a beautiful little Dunja (quince). Little Dunja is five years old now. Little Dunja, the quince of life, the quince of freedom, the quince of disobedience, the quince of the Serbian heart, the quince of the Serbian future. We will never give you our Dunja or Serbian freedom, nor will you ever manage to break the Serbian heart - said the President of Serbia.

According to him, our country is facing difficult days, some in Kosovo and Metohija, and some irresponsible people are trying to lure us into a trap and make us give them the answer they deserve.

- The only thing I can tell them is that we were not very scared of them, or the thugs who support them. We will do everything in our power to preserve peace, for the sake of the future of the people and children. But those who think they will expel our people should know that it will not happen. It will not happen, because Serbia is not a punch bag, Serbia is a country of proud people, strong people and Serbia will jealously protect its freedom and peace - said the President of Serbia.

Addressing all those who are waging wars and those who are defending themselves, President Vučić said that peace is the most important thing and that it protects the lives of generations and children.

- The arrogant ones in all corners of the world should know that there is no greater treasure than the lives of children, and I ask them to end wars and conflicts as soon as possible. Not only for our sake, but for their own sake, because if they go on like this, there will be no end to this calamity. And I beg you, people, to stand together in these difficult moments, to protect our Serbia, because we have no other homeland, we have only the one, the only, the most beautiful, unconquered, free, freedom-loving and invincible Serbia - said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

His Holiness Porfirije, the Serbian Patriarch, who conducted a memorial service for the victims of NATO aggression, addressed the audience, saying that every murder anywhere in the world was a tragedy, shame and defeat of the entire human race.

- It is an undeniable fact that at that time nineteen countries took part in the crime, equal to Cain’s crime, bombing, destruction of our people and our country, destruction followed by media campaigns and trade in truth and lies, slanders against us, our church and our people. At that time, we were faced with unscrupulous evil and force that took no heed of law and justice. Power and strength were and are the only criteria - said the Serbian patriarch Porfirije.

In his address to the audience, Patriarch Porfirije emphasized the power of prayer.

- We pray for our brothers and sisters who suffered in the NATO aggression against Serbia, but we also pray for all those who are suffering somewhere else today, we pray for peace in general, for world peace, we pray for an end to the conflict in Ukraine, for peace in the Middle East, in Africa, everywhere, we pray that we all understand that people are brothers - said Patriarch Porfirije.

Addressing the gathering, the Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, noted that the NATO alliance had called the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a humanitarian operation, and that children and civilians had been killed only as collateral damage.

- It was wrong of me to expect those people to apologize. Today, they enjoy the memories of that and think that they are the heroes of that time, but also of this time. I can't forgive them, I was taught to forgive, but some things I cannot forgive. The purpose of all that was not to achieve some goal but to try out their new weapons. Why does a child, who doesn't understand anything, die? Do the people who shot those children have any consideration? Do they have a soul? How can they sleep today? - said Milorad Dodik.

Bojana Žarčanin, who was seriously injured as a fourteen-year-old girl during the 1999 bombing near Kraljevo, said that on that year's Labour Day, which she had been celebrating with her family, the sunny day had been replaced by darkness.

- A NATO bomb took away our joy and health. My brother Bojan suffered severe bodily injuries and today he has shrapnel next to his heart. My father and uncle were also seriously wounded and today they have visible scars on their bodies made by the shrapnel from NATO bombs. And me, I lost my leg. I will repeat - a NATO bomb took away joy and health from us - civilians, from me – a girl. But we are strong people, tough, resilient - said Bojana, adding that thanks to her genes and employees of the "Studenica" Health Centre, she is fine today.

Today, she has a bachelor’s degree in economics, she is a wife and the mother of a five-year-old girl, and she says that she may be able to forgive, but not forget.

"God forbid that war should happen to anyone ever again. Dear President, protect us, keep peace and stability for all of us. Long live Serbia - said Bojana Žarčanin.