Serbia and Russia plan conference on WW1 anniversary

Belgrade – Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin says Serbia and Russia should hold a joint conference, dedicated to the centenary of the beginning of World War I.

The event will be held in Belgrade on May 5-6.

A delegation of the Russian State Duma led by Speaker Sergei Naryshkin will take part in the conference, Chepurin told Itar-Tass.

Chepurin said that there is an idea of setting up a cross in memory of the WWI fallen in Topola (central Serbia), and announced that 100 Russian cadets will come to Serbia in July.

There is also an idea to erect a memorial in Belgrade to the last Russian tsar, Nikolai Romanov, but its implementation depends on the Serbian side, the ambassador said.

On April 11, Belgrade’s interim city council decided that a monument to Russian tsar will be set up in the park near the National Assembly of Serbia. The monument is a donation of the Russian Federation, and will be built under the auspices of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić.

The interim council said that the tsar was a sincere friend of Serbs, during whose Russia threw its weight behind Serbia and helped the country protect its freedom and statehood, giving a major contribution to saving the Serbian military in World War I.