27.11.2019.
Minister Vulin: We will not allow history to be recreated and those who liberated us to be forgotten
Defence minister Aleksandar Vulin and ambassador of the Russian Federation in Belgrade, Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko have laid wreaths today at the Monument to the Red Army soldier at the Cemetery of the Liberators of Belgrade and participated in the ceremonial handover of a clump of earth from the cemetery to be delivered to the Russian Federation as part of the ‘Remembrance Path’ campaign.
After the ceremony, minister Vulin emphasized that Serbia, led by Aleksandar Vučić, is Serbia that remembers, Serbia that would not change history and has always been on the right side of the world.
- Just as president Vučić did not allow Serbia to participate in any way in anti-Russian sanctions or in anti-Russian hysteria, neither he nor our country will ever allow history to be recreated, or those who liberated us, who participated with us in the liberation of this city and this country, who saved the whole world from the greatest evil of modern civilization – fascism to be forgotten. And we will never take part in rewriting and changing history, and we will never allow the shameful equalisation of the Red Army and Hitler's army, and we will never allow forgetting who committed the atrocities and who liberated Europe – minister Vulin said.Serbia has always been on the right side of the world, he said.
- The Serbian people have never made wrong choice and if the great powers can learn anything from the Serbs it is to watch and closely monitor where the Serbs are, because where the Serbs are, there is freedom and justice. Where the Serbs are, there is freedom for all, there is respect for all nations, there is respect for every country – minister Vulin said.
According to him, Serbia is a militarily neutral country and as such it will continue to take care of itself, its security and safety, to cooperate with the East and with the West and to express its great respect to the people and leadership of the Russian Federation. It will certainly take care of the history that brings us together, but not only of history, but of a common future as well.Ambassador Botsan-Kharchenko emphasised that it is an important event today and thanked the President of the Republic of Serbia and the Minister of Defence for its realisation.
- Today we have collected a sample of earth from here, at the Cemetery of the Liberators of Belgrade, and we have done the same in 14 places across Serbia. This is one part of a major and important project on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the victory, which includes building a large temple in Russia and a memorial centre. This clump of earth, along with a total of 15,000 samples collected across Europe as Red Army soldiers liberated eastern, central and significant parts of northern Europe, will be part of that memorial – ambassador Botsan-Kharchenko emphasised, noting that Serbia has a significant contribution in this project.
According to him, the cooperation of the Republic of Serbia and the Russian Federation in this project once again shows and proves that the common tradition and common values are nurtured and cultivated, adding that the circumstances are such that this happens just before the meeting of presidents Putin and Vučić.
- Regardless of some events that are behind us, we will move on and we will have even more steps ahead in the coming days in terms of the development of our bilateral relations – the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Belgrade emphasised.This is the final event within the ‘Remembrance Path’ campaign of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, which is being organised as part of the upcoming commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory in World War II.
The ‘Remembrance Path’ campaign, which began on 20th November this year, during which clumps of earth were collected from Russian military memorials in our country, which were to be transferred to Moscow, was held in Zrenjanin, Novi Bečej, Adaševci, Sremska Mitrovica, Gospođinci, Novi Sad, Požarevac, Vršac, Jagodina, Subotica, Zaječar, Trbušani and Sombor.
The closing ceremony of the ‘Remembrance Path’ campaign was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces and the Embassy of the Russian Federation.
